Sailor Mini Moon: The Shadows Beckon
by metalgear
Summary: In this prequel to SoSM, my first story: four years have gone by since Small Lady returned to Crystal Tokyo...and since Pegasus flew away. An aching heart draws her back to the 21st century, but she finds even the Sailor Scouts have gone their separate ways. When Pegasus returns to warn her and Sailor Moon of an approaching darkness, will they be reunited at last?
1. Serena Times Two, Times Two

**Chapter 1: Serena Times Two, Times Two**

"Honored guests..."

The clapping and cheering from the massive crowd before me fell silent when I said those two words. I held my head up high, just as Mercury had taught me...but I had also shut my eyes. My dad's gentle hand patting my back gave me the confidence to reopen them...but all of Crystal Tokyo had gathered outside to watch me shaking behind the podium. At the front of the crowd, just behind a line of girls my age gathered in flowery kimonos, Sailor Mercury lifted two big thumbs up in the air and smiled at me. _I couldn't let my parents, my friends, and everyone else who believed in me down...I had to speak. This was too important._ So, I took a deep breath, and went on with my speech...

"I humbly present myself to you as Crown Princess and heir to the throne of Silver Millennium...but I also present myself as someone who witnessed the horrors unleashed upon our city by the Evil Black Crystal. It is my duty, and my solemn vow, to protect all of you just as my mother, Neo Queen Serenity and the legendary guardian Sailor Moon, protected this planet. She was invincible because she had the love of her friends and the hearts of everyone on Earth with her. She saved our world from darkness many times over. The Silver Crystal's light shines brightly in the Crystal Palace...but through each and every one of you, can we illuminate the darkest corners of our universe and I can fulfill my promise. That this Silver Millennium will be followed by another. Thank you."

My deep sigh of relief that my speech was finally over almost drowned out the thunderous applause from everyone ahead of me. _It sure looked like the entire city had come to hear me speak._ The girls wearing kimonos threw cherry blossoms past the line of guards dressed in silver armor keeping them at a distance. The blossoms fluttered towards the stage before flying in a different direction because of the gentle breeze outside. My face turned pink again when my dad's gloved hand rubbed my shoulder again. "Beautifully-written, my little Princess. Your mother will be very proud to hear that you spoke so well."

His words made me blush harder. _I wish mom had been here to see me, too, though I knew she sent her love._ "Thank you, dad...though I wish you and mom would call me "Rini" more often."

With his cape flying in the breeze and a flick of his hand, the people in the crowd turned towards each other and started doing their own things. Sailor Mercury was at the front, beaming at me and mirroring my smile...but my own fell when a noble-dressed man in a tunic whisked her away.

"You handled yourself well. The next one will come to you even more easily. One day, you'll find yourself in front of another crowd this size and realize you aren't even nervous at all." _Dad was trying to comfort me, but I hated the idea he already had another big speaking moment lined up for me._ "I know what will help in the meantime. Walk with me?"

I eagerly nodded 'yes' and took my dad's hand. Two of my dad's guards, also wearing silver armor with crescent moon decorations on their shoulders, clicked their heels together when dad helped me off the stage.

"King Endymion," one of the guards muttered my dad's name while he lifted his polearm weapon with a sharp knife at the end. The other raised his weapon too and whispered "your majesty" as they let us pass by unescorted. _Mom told me their spears were only ceremonial, though they still looked dangerous. I'd seen the palace guards holding scarier weapons before: I saw a couple of them in the streets carrying long rifles with blades under the barrel...a bayonet, as Sailor Mercury called it. But our guards' polearm weapons reminded me of the scythe that Sailor Saturn used...and Sailor Saturn reminded me how much I missed Hotaru. It hadn't seen her in so long, either..._

"Shortly after your mother ascended to the throne, she confided in me that she hoped we would not need an army someday. Wiseman and the rebellion dashed our hopes." My dad took me down the same sidewalk, lined with trees and animals, that my parents took me down ever since I was little. "This day brings back painful memories for all of us...your mother especially. But just like you said during your speech...we can't forget what happened. And we can't forget how the first Silver Millennium ended either."

"I've seen a lot more guards on my way to class lately." _I wondered if that was my dad's decision, going on what he said._ "I was hoping you put them there to give the Sailor Scouts a break."

"No, your mother suggested I post them along your route. She thought they might discourage you from making a habit of showing up late to class," my father teased. _I didn't think that was funny. Serena never had to run to class every day in a big billowy white dress!_

Dad and I stopped to watch the sun set behind one of the Palace's crystal points. _Raye once told me that a blood-red sunset was a bad omen. But..._ "it all looks so peaceful. As if the Evil Black Crystal had never been here."

"We have that to be grateful for," my dad quietly agreed. _He had asked me to refer to it as the "Evil Black Crystal", not just the Dark Crystal, during my speech. Maybe because he didn't want me to go into the things Wiseman did to me...I knew I didn't want to talk about him either._ I felt my father squeeze my hand gently. "I thought you would have outgrown holding my hand by now. Aren't you in a hurry to grow up?" But he just started laughing when I abruptly yanked my hand from his grasp.

"I didn't say "stop!" So...why the long face back there?" Dad filled in the blanks himself when I looked away from him without another word. "Do you feel like you didn't deserve the applause because Sailor Mercury helped you a little with your speech? She told me she felt bad she had so little to add. She even told me that your mother is going to be so jealous when she finds out you're a much better writer than her!"

 _Well, at least calling me a better writer than my mom wasn't much of a compliment...the only worse thing she could have done was compare me to her - or Serena - as a cook. Serena might have been a meatball head meanie who always called me names and stole my candy, but at least she was always herself around me. How many people applauded me back there because they thought my speech was good? Not just because I was the Princess, as if they were supposed to?_

"Dad...hanging out with A - with Mercury again was so much fun. But now that the speech is over, I'm scared I'll barely see her anymore," I admitted to him.

"We've been extremely busy as of late, memorializing this occasion," my dad conceded. _Except everyone was always busy, long before they said they wanted to remember Death Phantom attacking us._ He must have noticed I'd scrunched my face up, because he started rubbing my shoulder. "Your bloodline was gifted with the Silver Crystal for a reason, Rini. Your mother and the Sailor Scouts have made the world a much better place than it used to be."

"It wasn't all bad." I nearly choked on the words that came next. "I miss the smell of Grandma's lemon pie baking in the oven when I came home from school. Grandpa would talk about politics and make us laugh when he nearly put Uncle Sammy to sleep. And most of all...I miss being able to just hang out with my friends."

"I miss those times too. Don't get me wrong." We watched the sun hiding behind the city and slowly give way to the night sky. "You miss your classmates."

"Them too..." I looked down to the immaculate tiles beneath my feet. "I miss trading those old Tween Queen magazines with Mina, watching Raye chase Serena around her Temple after she spoiled the latest comic, Lita competing with Mama Ikuko for best cook, Amy being able to help me with my homework most nights. And of course...I miss hot chocolate with Darien."

 _Most of all, though...I missed Helios._ I realized then my fingers were touching the back of my right hand, where he had kissed me before he left.

 _"You'll see him again, Rini." I could hear Serena's voice again. And I watched him, as Pegasus, spread his majestic wings open and fly off into the sky. And here I was, left behind, left to wonder when I would see him again. Days went by...then weeks...and 'when' became 'if' I would see him again..._

 _"I know...then we'll share all our dreams." That's what I remember saying. He asked me to believe in him...did he think I gave up because I went home? Or was something keeping him from visiting me? I needed to find out...I needed the Sailor Scouts of the past to help me find him, because everyone here was just too busy. Serena and the others would understand, I knew they would...I needed to know he was alright, wherever he was._

"Rini..." My dad removed the white mask that I never saw him take off in this century. For a moment... _just a moment..._ Darien's spark was there again _._ "I'm here with you right now. It was Amy who helped you prepare for your speech. Lita, Raye, Serena, Mina - we're all here, Rini."

"I know..." _That's what I knew to be true, anyway. They were just grown up now. But..._ "It still doesn't feel the same. I rarely even get to see Diana anymore since she started training with Plu to be substitute Guardian of Time. I know it sounds weird, but...I want a break from being everybody's Princess. Just for a little while."

"It doesn't sound weird at all. I wish we could go back sometimes, too. But if we shrink from our responsibilities too long, they build up faster than a snowball rolling down a hill." Dad revealed he had been keeping a familiar pink heart-shaped compact for me, tucked away in one of his many pockets.

"My brooch..." _I hadn't become Sailor Mini Moon ever since I came back. Most of my training as a Sailor Scout took place in classrooms because the others were so busy with other stuff most of the time._

Dad quietly nodded and let me touch my brooch again. "Your mother and I planned on returning it to you when we knew the time was right for you to become the next Sailor Moon. Do you remember when we gave this to you, why your mother asked you to travel to the twenty-first century?"

"She wanted me to study and train with the Sailor Scouts of the past," I answered. "But mom also wanted me to make friends with as many people as I could in the twenty-first century! What if I haven't found all of those precious friendships yet?"

"You could also run into more dangerous enemies in the past! A few selfish anarchists nearly ruined all civilization!" _Dad didn't raise his voice at me often, even when I acted up when I was little._

"So...you won't let me go?" I folded my hands across my front and began to sniffle. _I'd give up being Princess to see my friends again any time._ My dad stuffed his mask back in his pocket, as if he changed his mind about putting it back on when I started shaking. My eyes were beginning to well up with tears when he lifted my chin up with gentle fingers.

"No, I'm not forbidding you Rini. You may come and go as you wish." My dad returned my brooch, opening my fingers and gently closing them over it. "Just remember...you have loved ones here, too. You have friends who will stand by your side when you become the next Sailor Moon. And one day, as far away as it may seem right now...your mother will pass the Silver Crystal along to you. Before you go, I'm only asking that you talk it over with your mother first, and think about what I said."

I nodded solemnly and looked back the way we came. _No one else had come this way._ "I haven't seen Venus at all today, either."

"Sailor Venus requested time away from the Palace, so that she could attend to a personal matter," my father answered. "But she didn't forget this was your big day. She asked me to congratulate you in advance, because she knew you would walk it off the lark."

"Huh?" I couldn't help staring at him bug-eyed. _Venus never did get the hang of quoting right..._

"I...believe she meant to say "knock it out of the park." But it was I who forgot to relay her well wishes earlier." Dad was the one who took my hand this time. "We should head back now. We still have guests to attend to..."

* * *

I opened the Door of Space and Time with the slightest creak, but there was no hope of getting by Sailor Pluto unnoticed. She was staring right at me the moment I peeked. I couldn't keep myself from smiling as I approached and the fog around her cleared. Plu fell to one knee and held her long silver Rod in front of her as I came closer.

"Your Highness!" my kitty cat was sitting right beside Plu's foot, bowing her pointy-eared head alongside my other friend.

I shook my head at both of them and started laughing. "How many times have I told you both? You don't need to call me "Your Highness" or bow when it's just me!"

"Difficult habits to break, Small Lady." Plu propped herself back up by leaning ever-so-slightly on her Garnet Rod. "Though sooner of later, calling you by another title will be my latest challenge."

"Nobody in Crystal Tokyo wants to call me "Rini" anymore!" I pouted.

"You will always be "Rini" to us," Plu smiled. _No matter what, she always knew just what to say to cheer me up._

"Are you visiting everyone in the past?" Diana squeaked excitedly. "That's the same dress you wore coming back!"

"It's not the EXACT same one! Plu enlarged it for me! And I needed bigger shoes!" I swung one leg forward in mid-air to show one of them off.

"I look forward to designing a new dress for you as soon as I have more free time," Plu sighed happily...though her eyes narrowed when she redirected them towards Diana. _She hadn't given ME that look in a very long time._ "Diana would be farther along with her training if she would only recite the challenge as instructed, instead of ad-libbing it every single time."

"Ad-libbing?" I asked.

""Those who trespass upon the Door of Space and Time will be eliminated" gets kinda repetitive after a while," Diana explained. "I mean, if we're gonna be here a long time, I thought we could change it up every once in a while. Besides, the phrase is gonna lose its oomph if word gets around we're saying the same thing over and over again!"

"Diana, I have stood here for eons. No intruder has ever returned to complain that I recited the same challenge twice," Plu groaned. "If word gets around, that means you need to do a better job of stopping them."

 _I heard that Plu objected when mom requested that she take Diana on as apprentice guardian...but Plu had such a lonely life. Mom herself suggested Diana...I didn't see why not. Oh well, time to change the subject back!_

"No rush making me a new dress, Plu: I love this one! At least I'm not gonna have to worry about tripping over the same stuffy gown there!" I grabbed the edges of my blue short skirt and twirled around with it. _It WAS one of my favorite dresses...though I also wanted to be sure Helios recognized me when he found me._ "Besides, I'll be starting junior high! That means new uniform anyway!"

Plu frowned a little bit after I said that. "Do you plan on staying in the past long-term, Rini?"

"I'm not running away! You know I'll be back!" I winked at her and pointed towards the strap of my backpack. _I would have brought A LOT more stuff!_

"I'm just concerned." _Plu did sound like she was a bit worried...but why? The other Sailor Scouts would be there, and dad gave me back my brooch so I could transform_. "It has been a while since your last visit. The world you return to may not be the same one you left. Have you talked this over with your parents?"

"Dad said I could!" My footstep echoed through the void of space and time when I stomped hard on my right foot. _OK, I didn't talk it out with my mom like he asked me to...but she couldn't possibly miss the note I left her!_ "He said he just wanted me to think about it, and I made up my mind! I'm going!"

"I was only curious...did you decide before or after he asked you to think about it?" I balled my fists, threw my arms down by my side, and puffed my cheeks at Plu...only to realize I was being immature when she smirked. "I'm only teasing, Small Lady. As if you would let me stop you from going, anyway."

 _Not that she could talk, but if Serena were here, she would have made fun of me for throwing another tantrum._ I opened my fists to throw my arms around Plu's waist instead. "I'll miss you both! I wish I didn't have to keep going back and forth to see everyone."

"I wish I could come with you too." Diana purred while I scratched her between the ears. _Poor Luna and Artemis...I know they would ask me about her._ "Say hi to everyone for me!"

"We will be right here waiting for you," Plu promised with a smile. _Like always._

First, I fastened my brooch back on to my ribbon. Then, I waved goodbye back towards my friends and held the Space-Time Key that Plu loaned me in my hand. _Shaped just like her time rod_. _Going back and forth in time was always a bumpy ride_... _but it was always worth it to see everyone's faces again..._

* * *

"OOOOWWWWW!" My trip through the time warp ended just over a treeline...and with a long tumble through leaves and branches. _No Serena to cushion my fall this time...but I did land on top of some guy's head also crying 'owww'..._

"Sorry mister!" I squealed and jumped to my feet as fast as I could to bug out of there. _What if someone had seen me, or the big swirling pink cloud in the sky?!_ But I saw I'd landed right in front of Serena's house when I reached for my backpack's loose strap. Right on the front lawn, in fact. And I recognized the flop of messy, sandy-brown hair I was sitting on. "Sammy?!"

"Cousin Rini?" _No mistake...it WAS his voice groaning, even if it was a bit deeper than I remembered him. I would have pulled myself sooner, but then I saw his MUSCLES and his nicely-tanned bare arms when I rolled off him. My lanky Uncle Sammy was becoming a real heart throb!_ "What are you doing in our tree?!"

"Uhh...I'm back! I just wanted to surprise you, that's all!" _I felt so bad every time I fibbed to Grandma and Grandpa and Sammy. They had always been so nice to me...but that was after I hypnotized them into remembering things that didn't happened. Maybe one day, when we told them we were the Sailor Scouts, I could fess up to them...even if it made them hate me. And Darien would have to run far, far away from Papa Ken._

"Mission accomplished!" Present-day Sammy rubbed his head with one hand while carrying a pair of big scissors, like the one they used for cutting plants, with the other. "Where have you been the last four years? Training with ninjas?"

"Four years..." I repeated the number. _I'd better think of an explanation, quick..._

"Are you done out there, Sam? What's all the commo - " _Unlike Uncle Sammy, Grandma looked just like I remembered her. The same curly blue hair, the same warm smile...though her jaw dropped when she saw me with Sammy._

"MOMMY IKUKO!" I couldn't help myself...I sprinted to the porch and hugged her with all my might. At first, I thought she might have forgotten me when she just stood there... _that did happen once before._ But she made me feel all fuzzy inside when she returned my hug.

"RINI! What a surprise, I haven't seen you in ages!" _I could already smell something yummy in the kitchen behind her!_ "The last time you were here, your head was only up to my hips! Now it's up to my chest!"

"Sorry I didn't keep in touch. And for showing up unannounced," I lowered my head.

"Oh, don't be sorry, Rini! You're welcome here any time, for as long as you want!" _So far, coming back was everything I wanted it would be. No Princess, no Small Lady...I was just good ol' Rini to them._ "It is going to take me a while to get your old room ready. Maybe you can spend the night in Serena's room."

"Serena's still not the sharing type, is she?" I kicked my red-and-white shoes off at the door and stuffed my socked feet into a familiar pair of pink fuzzy slippers. _I was gonna need a bigger pair of these too..._

"Yeah, well...she's not here to complain, is she?" Sammy grinned. _Wait, what did he mean she wasn't here?!_ "Your timing couldn't be any better. Dad was gonna take us to buy a new fridge after work because mom still makes enough food for all of us, plus Serena the Elephant!"

"Wait! You and Papa Ken would never throw Serena out of the house for good, would you?!" I worriedly asked Mama Ikuko.

"Of course not!" Mama Ikuko looked at Sammy like she was confused. "I know your parents get so busy, but I thought they already told you, Rini..."

 _Right...they knew my real parents as Sammy and Serena's always-busy aunt and uncle. At least not EVERYTHING I told them was a lie..._

"You may want to sit down while we break the news." Sammy let me sit in the big comfy blue couch across from him. _That WAS the smell of lemon pie baking in the oven...but I had lost my appetite_. "Not only did Serena pass high school...she made it into university somehow!"

"Give your sister a break," Mama groaned. "Serena turned herself around and started doing her homework on time, for a change. This was around the same time I heard they might be lowering the standards for university entrance exams, but...oh, I shouldn't have said that. It was only a rumor!"

"See? Even mom couldn't believe it!" But then Sammy started frowning himself. "Amy went away too. She got into German medical school, just like she always dreamed."

"I don't know exactly what changed in Serena," Mama Ikuko continued after she lifted her face from her palm. "Even after Amy left, Serena kept getting decent grades. Then she got it in her head that she wanted to study in America. Your dad and I talked about it, and we thought a change of pace would be good for her."

"And for us!" Sammy cheered. "I never thought I'd live to see her move out of the house! It's so peaceful now!"

"SAMMY!" Mama Ikuko screeched at him.

I saw Papa Ken had left a couple of newspapers on the coffee table. _If you ever lose track of which century you're in, look for newspapers...the only place you might see one in Crystal Tokyo is a museum._ I took a quick look at the pictures and the headlines... _no mention of the Sailor Scouts at all. I thought we were supposed to stick together, through thick and thin...though I guess I was an exception. Plu too. But I never thought SERENA would leave..._

"I knew that was what Amy wanted...but I thought Serena would always be here. Darien must be so lonely."

"You know...come to think of it, I haven't seen Luna around lately either," Sammy admitted to me. _Luna was just keeping busy with Scout business...I hoped._ "I'm not even sure if Serena's with Darien any more, to be honest. She used to gush about him non-stop, then one day...nothing."

"It's just as well," Mama Ikuko sighed. "Serena was talking about marrying him as soon as she finished high school. The timing just wasn't right for her."

 _OH NO! I had to get them back together, right this second! Sure, this was only the twenty-first century, but they still had those screens for keeping in touch and stuff!_

"Rini, where are you going?!" Sammy called out after me when I leaped out of the couch. "If you're going to see Darien, shouldn't you at least call first?"

I nearly tripped on my face when I stopped to look at the clock, thanks to my undersized slippers. "I will! But first I've gotta get the girls back together and plan out "Operation Save Darien and Dimwit's Relationship" for the eighty-seventh time! And I know just where they'll be at this time!"

"The shrine where you and the other girls used to hang out?" Mama Ikuko remembered. _You could bet on them always hanging out there after school, even if we had to wait for Meatball Head to get out of detention...maybe Darien would be there too, plus Luna and Artemis._ "Maybe Dad can drop you off when he gets home, Rini? I don't want you running back home in the dark by yourself."

"Quit being such a worry-wort, Mom! Rini's a big girl now!" Sammy interrupted. "Besides, it's not like she hasn't gone out on her own before!"

"That's right!" I smiled to reassure Mama Ikuko I'd be fine. _I wasn't all grown up YET, but I was getting there. What would Helios think if he saw me now? I wondered if he would look the same if I saw him tonight..._

"OK Rini, you win." Mama Ikuko conceded. "Promise you won't stay out too late."

"I will!" I kicked my slippers into the middle of the living room and slipped my shoes back on. "Save a piece of lemon pie for me!"

 _I couldn't wait to see Raye and the others again...and the looks on their faces when they saw me. If Sammy and Mama Ikuko were surprised how much I'd grown, I knew Raye, Lita and Mina would be too..._

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **A/N:** Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying my little side trip! I wrote this story as a prequel to my first, The Shadow of Silver Millennium, but I wanted it to be easy to understand if you haven't read any of my other stories! A first-person story starring Rini is definitely something new for me: I had considered writing in third person, but the thought of taking a run in Sailor Mini Moon's boots for a little while seemed like a fun idea!

If you've been keeping up with Scourge of the Sailor Scouts (my other story), don't worry...I'm not abandoning the story, not by a long shot! I don't plan on "The Shadows Beckon" being particularly long: I currently have about seven chapters planned, and I don't see this story going above ten. I just needed a break to recharge my batteries, and I've had this prologue idea floating in my head for a long time. I'd mothballed it, but a certain someone who insisted no thanks was necessary :P inspired me to go back to it. Rini coming back to find her older friends had split, reuniting her with Pegasus, and going over some themes I glazed over in SoSM...it sounded like the makings of a good story.

The ideas are already brewing for Chapter 2, even Chapter 3, so I'm hoping for an update next week! Not to worry Rini/Chibiusa+Helios fans, more is coming :) and if you're hoping Logan from SoSM drops in...this is a prequel, so I'd say there's a very good chance he'll drop by in the last chapter at least! If you happen to be a new reader, I hope you'll enjoy this story and check out SoSM when we reach the end. If you have read my stories before, thanks for your support - it's gotten me farther than you know! Hope I'll hear from you all soon!


	2. Sailor Slackers

**Chapter 2: Sailor Slackers**

 _I was so excited to hang out with everyone in the twenty-first century again...but in all the excitement, I got carried away and ran all the way to Raye's temple. That turned out to be a really, REALLY bad idea._ I was all out of breath and sweaty when I got to the Temple steps. _The inside of Serena's house might have looked smaller than how I remembered it, but the stairway leading up Cherry Hill sure didn't look any shorter. At least Serena wasn't here to laugh at me, sagging against the side of the wall and having to drag one foot up with each step..._

"Why couldn't Raye's grandpa have put in an escalator?! It's the twenty-first century _!" The complaining PROBABLY wasn't helping with my exhaustion, but I couldn't help it._ _At least Serena wasn't here to listen to me either: YAK YAK YAK, AND YOU ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT ME COMPLAINING, SHE'D PROBABLY SAY._ "Yes, I liked sports meets. Yes, I won a race. Serena...even said...I was fast. But I...still...don't...like...RUNNING!"

Totally winded by the time I got to the top, I landed flat on my face beneath the arch. My arms and legs were spread out as if I was making a snow angel. _What I wouldn't give for some snow to cool up in. Too bad this isn't the season for it and Tokyo rarely gets any._ Nothing pushed more air into my lungs faster than when I looked up at the first building in front of me...

"HUH?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Pieces of Raye's roof had fallen off, like they'd been blown away in some kind of storm. The wall had cracks and I'd think twice before taking my shoes off to walk on the grimy floor underneath it. _Raye and her grandpa always took good care of this place! They NEVER would have let it get this bad! What kind of person would trash a Temple like this.  
_  
I grabbed my brooch, nestled in the middle of my front ribbon, and looked around for any intruders. _Their temple was completely deserted...but someone was always here around this time. There wasn't any sign of Raye, or any of the others hanging around here_. I strolled right up to where that guy Raye liked... _errr, I think his name was Chad?..._ and her grandpa used to sell -

"We're out of good luck charms." _That's her!_ "Sorry. Maybe we'll have more to sell at the end of the month."

"RAYE!" I followed her voice all the way to the back. Raye was there, in her white and red miko robes. She was kneeling on a much cleaner wooden floor with her backside towards me, scrubbing the ground hard with a white rag in her hands. _I was sorely tempted to take the bucket of water next to her and dump it over my head, but it looked like she already had her work cut out for her._ I grew a little impatient when Raye didn't turn her head back to look at me, even though I knew she heard me walk by. "Ahem! Raye? Hi!"

Raye paused her scrubbing but refused to look at me this time, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. "I'm very busy right now."

"What's wrong?" Raye cleared away all doubt that she knew I was there when she looked the OTHER way after I came closer. "Are you mad at me?"

"You have WAY too much free time on your hands, kid." Raye growled. _What could I have possibly done to deserve this?!_ "Go pester someone else!"

I balled my hands into fists and started shaking. Then I remembered the bucket of soapy water sitting beside Raye...

"My first day back, and THIS is how you treat me?!" Before Raye could stop me, I reached over to grab her bucket and dumped everything on top of her. Her long black hair and robes were completely drenched, and I left the bucket sitting on top of her head. Raye threw the bucket off herself, then tossed her rag aside and stood up.

"YOU'RE IN FOR IT THIS TIME, YOU SPOILED - " Raye dropped her angry face when she finally took a good look at me, giving her my own death stare and crossing my arms underneath my chest. "RINI?!"

"Not that I was expecting a parade, but I thought you'd at least care!" I pouted.

"Oh Rini, of course I'm happy to see you! I missed you so much!" Raye's drenched arms pulled me in for a hug, but my own arms remained stiff by my sides. _I wouldn't give her one until she explained what that was about._ "I didn't recognize your voice. I thought you were one of the delinquents who comes by here when school's out just to bug me! It was wrong of me to tune you out, I'm sorry!"

"It's been so long you forgot what I sounded like, Raye?!" _I wasn't buying._ "Sammy told me four years!"

"Your voice IS a little bit deeper now." Raye reached for one of my pigtails and ran her fingers through my hair. "I dunno...I'm still not sure if you're the Rini I knew or a clone of Serena."

"Thanks for that, Raye!"

"I meant you look more like her in a good way, dummy!" She teased. I felt my anger over the misunderstanding start melting away the longer she stroked my hair. "Your pigtails aren't nearly as long as hers yet, but they're definitely a bit longer than last time."

"And you didn't have black bags under your eyes last time," I saw when I brought myself to look at her face. _She did look a little older, more like future Mars, except for that._ Raye angled hers away... _she put on a lot of makeup to try and cover it, but I still noticed._ "Those jerks you mentioned earlier...did they do that to your face and sack the Temple, too?! Because if they did - "

"No no no, this wasn't them, Rini! They just come by to annoy me, that's all!" _Raye's answer left me feeling a LITTLE better, but then how did the Temple get like this?_ "Unfortunately, they're the only ones who come by on a regular basis anymore."

"Raye, if you just blow off anyone who bugs you in the middle of chores, nobody's gonna want to come visit" I warned her.

"I swear, people stopped coming by long before those kids, but you're right...I shouldn't have let them get to me like that." Raye gently nudged me towards one of the stone benches. She brushed the blossoms away so that we could sit there together. "A lot's happened since you left, Rini. Some things...still hard for us to talk about. We graduated high school, the others are in university - "

"What do you mean the others?" I asked. _Raye was staring in the direction I came. She must have realized how bad the Temple looked from the front, but there was no fixing it herself._ "I thought you wanted to go to university, too! You wanted to a million different things, remember?"

Raye smiled, though she shooke her head gently as she did. "I'm still planning to go, Rini. It's just...on hold for now, while I get this place up and running. It's not as easy to get everyone back together as it used to be. You might have already heard, Serena's in California and Amy's in Germany. Lita's working her butt off in culinary school, and she's working towards getting her own restaurant one day. Oh - and did you know Mina reached the final round of idol competitions?"

"For real?!" I beamed with excitement for her... _but Raye still looked kind of sad._ "What about Chad? Isn't he still around?"

I was sorry I asked, watching the last trace of Raye's smile leave her face before she answered me. "First, we got hit by a major storm and didn't have enough money to keep up with fixing the Temple. Chad...wanted to stay...for me and Grandpa, but we agreed it just wasn't right. He had dreams of his own, and we just couldn't afford to keep him around anymore. We asked Chad to go...but then Grandpa had his heart attack - "

"OH NO!" I cried.

"He's OK, Rini. He's asleep inside." _I took Raye's hug this time_. "He's not able to run around or do the things he used to anymore, though. It's up to me to take care of him, and to get this place back to the way it was."

"ME TOO!" I swung my backpack around my shoulder, dug around for my sweat band, and wrapped the band around my head. "Helper Nurse Rini is back on the case!"

 _At least I got Raye laughing again...even if that's not what I meant to do._ "Don't be silly, Rini! You're not spending your first night back doing chores! And nothing personal, but the last tropical storm to blow through here had nothing on Hurricane Mina!"

 _GGGRRRR I bet Serena called her up and made up some story about how Nurse Mina and I trashed our own house five years ago, when they all came down with the flu and tried to help everyone! That's the thanks we get?!_

"Honestly Rini, you don't need to worry about me. I've got this." Raye stood up from the bench. _At least she dried off a little before the sun began setting._ "Let Mina, Lita and the others chase their own dreams. I know you have yours too. This has always been mine...to be able to help out more around the Temple."

"But we're all still Sailor Scouts! You guys didn't give that up too, right?" Raye paused in her steps and didn't answer me. _No...of course they were still Sailor Scouts! They were all in the future with me! But SOMETHING was going on with all of them - not just Serena and Darien - and I needed to get to the bottom of it._ "Come back to my place for dinner, Raye. You wouldn't be imposing at all. In fact, Sammy said they needed all the help they can get putting the extra food away now that Serena's out of the house!"

Raye's face scrunched up just like mine did when mom or dad said 'no' to something I wanted. "I wish I could say "yes" tonight, Rini. Maybe one night this week, I can. You just reminded me though...Lita invited me to dinner tonight. She mentioned her culinary class was cooking and she was allowed to bring two guests, but Mina and I can't make it. It'd be a nice surprise if you showed up, I'm sure of it. And Mina started working at a TV studio after school - it's on the way if you want to take a peek."

"OK..." I sighed. "You think Darien will want to come? What about Hotaru and Trista?"

"I haven't heard anything about Hotaru and Trista lately...they might be out of the city on Sailor Scout business." _Not them too..._ "Darien's...not really talking to me right now. He's been keeping his distance from us ever since he called off the engagement, and he won't go into why. Maybe you'll have more luck with him?"

 _There was the same sad look on her face again. What happened?_ "But that's why I came here," I pleaded with Raye. "I thought you and Mina and Lita could help me get them back together. But it's like you're not even a team anymore."

"We'll always be a team, Rini." Raye smiled again, trying to reassure me... _but again, I could see she was forcing it._ "We just...grew apart a little. Luna, Artemis, and the Outer Scouts are keeping a watchful eye. The rest of us...just aren't needed right now. Here, I'll run inside and get you all the details..."

* * *

Raye waved to me from the top of the Temple stairway after I made my descent. This time, it was my turn to smile back and hide how I was feeling inside. _Phase one of Operation Save Darien and Dimwit's Relationship was a total bust...going by Raye's, it didn't even feel like we were a team anymore._

This time, I took a slow-and-steady pace through the business district, towards the new TV studio where Mina worked after class. _At least I could see her on her way to the big leagues. And if anybody could help me get Serena and Darien back together, it would be the Goddess of Love herself! True, Mina didn't have a steady boyfriend the whole time I knew her, but she must have landed a hunkasaurus by now with how hard she tried! Mina being on TV now only sweetened the deal!_

Hunkasaurus...hmm that's one word I never heard around Crystal Tokyo. Although, come to think about it...I don't remember anyone in the twenty-first century say "hunkasaurus" either, at least outside of our group.

The TV studio was a big white office building with lots of windows. _Maybe this was the former radio station from way back when the girls were tangling with the Negaverse...or the Dark Kingdom. Even in the future, they would still argue over what to call Queen Beryl's side. Of course, it was just Serena and Luna way back when - Sailor V and Artemis were fighting bad guys on the other side of Tokyo. Back in those days, Serena and her class would put on the radio at night and listen to a show about some guy reading love letters...how could they call it a show if you couldn't see any pictures?_

A big gray sliding gate and a single guard in a blue uniform were the only things keeping me out of Mina's studio. _Hey Serena, not that you can hear me right now...but I bet that I can get in without Luna's special disguising pen!_ I would have thought the guy standing at the entrance of a cop, the way he stood up straight in his blue uniform and gave me the stop sign when I came closer. "Sorry, kid. We've got enough extras for today's show."

 _GGGRRR at least the worst thing anyone in Crystal Tokyo called me was Little Princess!_ "I know Mina Aino works here! She's a really close friend of mine! Could you please tell her that I'm out here?"

"Mina Aino? No idea who that is, kid. Never heard of her." _He sounded like he was enjoying his little power trip, calling me "kid" over and over!_ "Look, if you want to be an extra on one of those shows, first you have to register. Then you have to get a parent or guardian to sign the consent form, then bring that form and whoever signed it with you next time, OK little girl? Run along now."  
 _  
And now that jerk pretend cop was bossing me around! No way! I'm not leaving until I see Mina, and I'm not losing my imaginary bet with Serena! Mmmm...desperate times call for desperate measures. If he's gonna throw down the "little girl" cark, I knew just how to flip it around..._

I started thinking about the saddest time I could remember... _when I felt like I didn't have any friends left, after Hotaru went back to being a baby and Plu was gone, and I was thinking of leaving then because I missed my mom and dad...but I knew that meant leaving Serena and my other friends_. I felt my eyes filling to the brim with tears, and my lip began to quiver as I stared down at my shoes...

"Awww, kid..." _The guard's voice had softened up a little bit._ "It's not that much paperwork. I've seen other kids fill it out across the street after school! Besides, there's no openings this late. Maybe if somebody can drop it off for you, nice and early in the morning, there will be a spot open next time."

"But I wanted to see my friend today..." He started wilting when I looked up to him with the saddest face I could make and raised my arm straight out. "I haven't seen her since I was yay high. We used to play dress up, and she would tuck me in...and when mommy was really mean to me, she always took my side..."

"I...that's...I really, really wish I could let you in. Honestly..." _He sounded like he might cry himself._

"Maybe, I could just...wait here? Until she comes out?" I sniffled mid-sentence and pointed to the gate across from his post. "I won't bother anybody. I promise I'll be quiet."

"You haven't seen Mister Katsamura when the cameras stop rolling." The guard mumbled as if he were afraid while I scuffed my feet, dragging them across to where he stood. "He'd strangle a puppy if it wandered on set, and then he'd strangle me for letting it get past me. Same goes for little girls. I can't..."

 _I couldn't afford to wait around either. Lita's thing was soon. What if Mina was able to come with me after all? Hmmm...Serena might have been immune to my whimper, but it worked most of the time._ With nothing else to lose, I clasped my hands and whimpered softly, drawing it out until he started giving...

"I - oh, alright kid!" _YES! SUCCESS!_ "One of the extras might have backed out last second, so you can say you're inside to take a loot and you can take a quick peek around for your friend. But do NOT. BUMP. INTO. MY BOSS. I swear he has photographic memory."

"THANK YOU!" I squealed with delight when he slid the gate open and let me run through. _HA! I win! I knew I was way better at this than you, Serena!_

 _Although...winning would have been way more fun if you were here. I miss you._

* * *

 _Hmm, maybe the guard out front was just on the paranoid side when it came to his boss. I was the only - YOUNGER PERSON - wandering the halls and nobody even noticed. All these busy people wearing high heels and business suits just ran past me - they paid so little attention to where they were going, I was surprised they didn't bounce off each other._ Maybe they just went off memory, but all the halls looked the same. The only way to tell one hallway and the next were the scattered bulletin boards and there and occasional potted plant...other than that, they were just painted white.

It was weird that guard didn't know who Mina was, though. Maybe I should have described her? Or maybe she went by a stage name, kinda like a pen name? I wonder why Raye said she didn't win, but it sounded like she was well on her way to something else. If I could just find where they were taping this show of hers, I was bound to find her on stage. Hopefully, becoming a star didn't turn her into a total snob.

 _Success!_ I heard lots of people clapping behind one of the doors. I stood on my tippy-toes to peek through a little oval window, like one I'd expect to find on one of those ancient ships. _There was a big audience sitting around the stage, sure enough...but I thought Mina would be filming a drama, or an action movie, or something romantic! Instead, there was a family standing behind a bench with some older guy in a tuxedo but no mask running around like a weirdo. He held up a microphone with one hand...with the other, he kept little cue cards hidden behind his back. This was one of those weird game shows, like what I used to walk in on Mama Ikuko watching after school!_

"Ugh...THAT'S what he thought I was here for?!" Two very small kids, maybe half my size, ran out carrying a bunch of trinkets on pincushion's.I clamped a hand over my mouth: _saying that out loud was stupid. I was lucky the 'awwws' from the audience drowned my voice out in case anyone passed by me. Wait...what if they'd already filmed Mina's show and were on to something else?_

I pulled back from my window just enough to see someone with flowing blonde hair go around the corner down the hall. _Not like I had anything else to go on!_ I tried not to bump into anyone else while I chased her - _the people working here weren't out of it enough to miss THAT -_ and opened the door at the end of the hall. _W_ _hite, white, more white...all white everywhere, but the trail was cold. No Mina anywhere._

It looked like I'd followed her into some kind of breakroom, but I couldn't see her at the end of the other hallway and there were at least half a dozen rooms. I couldn't just go poking around. Feeling a little down on my luck, I sat in one of the plastic chairs. There was a little fridge and a microwave in the corner, and a pair of white teacups that looked just like the ones Darien and I used to drink out of. _Someone had been careless enough to leave them teetering on the edge...filled to the brim with familiar dark liquid that Darien and I used to love too. Chocolate!_

"How could someone just leave this nice cup of cocoa, squealing 'drink me! drink me!' Well, I won't let this be a complete waste of time!" The cup itself was just a LITTLE bit warm when I picked it up by the handle and started chugging - _hey, I really love chocolate!_ But as soon as the drink hit my tongue, I felt like I just swallowed a bucket of molten lava...

"AAAHHH! TOO HOT! TOO HOT! TOO HOT!" _WAY hotter than Darien used to make it! AND it sure didn't taste like chocolate!_ My teacup shattered when I dropped it to fan my mouth. I ran around the table as if I was back playing musical chairs again, crying "MY THONGUE IS THUMB!" I found a little pitcher of milk sitting next to a couple of sugar packets. I gulped the entire thing in one go to bring some relief to my burning mouth.

 _What did I just drink?_ I wondered after I calmed down a little. _It tasted...bitter._ Then I saw noticed a gigantic can of brown beans next to the brewing machine. The sugar packets and milk were on the other side of them. _Of course...that's what coffee tastes like, huh?_ _BLEH! I couldn't see why adults loved it so much - how could they drink it like it was soda?! Serena did me a favor when she stopped me from getting a cappuccino at the beach! My parents too, for repeating the whole "maybe when you're older, sweetie" schtick in Crystal Tokyo!_

But even though I really didn't like the taste of coffee...I really, REALLY wanted to drink from the other cup now...

"YOU HEAR THAT? QUEEN OF THE KLUTZES DROPPED ANOTHER CUP!" _Oh no! Somebody heard I dropped the cup? WHAT DO I DO?_

Just when I was getting ready to bail, there was another voice: "how are you still working here, Mina? Katsamura have a thing for blondes or something?" _MINA!_

"OH, ZIP IT! The things you'll do just to get in the row in front of me tomorrow!" _OH NO, I can't get Mina in trouble!_ I desperately tried to brush the fragments into the corner of the room with my foot in time, but their footsteps got louder and louder. And then, Mina herself walked through the door, along with two other 20-something-year olds dressed in regular clothes. _It felt so weird to see Mina wearing pants again._ Mina's jaw fell open when she noticed me, but the girl with frizzy red hair and the guy with the gray sweater right behind her - _the only other person I knew besides Melvin who'd wear a sweater in this weather! -_ just stared at me. _They knew I didn't belong here._

"Uh...I'm the new maid?" An awkward smile followed my nervous lie. _I could already tell being cute wasn't gonna cut it with Mina's co-workers or whatever they were._ All three pairs of eyes landed near the few pieces of the broken cup I wasn't able to sweep away in time. "And...the cup was like that when I came in?"

"Awww, she's auditioning for a part. Maybe she's just in the wrong studio!" The red-haired girl Mina's age snorted. "Of course, letting in the extras was my job and I didn't see her."

"And THIS is why Mister Katsamura's putting me in the row in front of you! Of course she was here this morning!" Mina circled around the table to come to my defense. "I put her on the list for tomorrow's show, presented by the Mister Soapy...Mac...Soaps-a-Lot! Don't you guys read the bulletin?"

"Ha! You made a mistake, then! Soapy Mac Soaps-a-Lot is on Thursday! The Super Wishy Squidwich Sandwich Shop presents tomorrow!" The guy who looked like a far less nice version of Melvin celebrated. "Wait until I tattle, I bet the boss will put me TWO rows ahead of you!"

"Not if I tattle first!" bickered the other girl. I felt Mina duck behind my shoulder after the audience all those halls away started applauding loudly again. Then Mina covered her mouth with her hand...

"PHEW, INTERMISSION! I WANT MY TWO FAVORITE BUTT-KISSING INTERNS TO SERVE ME QUIETLY!" _Mina was muffling her voice to pass herself off as an older man. Maybe the guy hosting the show was the Mister Katsamura everyone was so afraid of._ "IN FACT, THE FIRST ONE TO KISS MY, MISTER KATSAMURA'S, BUTT ON LIVE TV GETS TO SIT IN THE FRONT ROW TOMORROW!"

"Yes! My whole life has been leading up to this moment!" I didn't think Mina would be able to pull it off, but the other girl fell right for it and ran straight out of the break room.

"No way you're swiping my big break! Not if I get to his butt first!" _And there went the other one..._

"Come on!" Mina grabbed my hand and led me into what turned out to be an abandoned closet. It was still littered with big old boxed filled with equipment from the studio's radio show days.

"I can't believe they fell for that," I admitted to Mina while she fumbled for the light switch. She found it... _after she stepped on something that sounded very expensive_.

"That's what lack of sleep does to people! Not to me! That's what I love about university - my first class was at two in the afternoon! I was...still late getting out of bed, but I'm working on that!" Mina made a disgusted face towards the door. "You gonna say hi to your Auntie Mina already or wait until Christmas?"

"I'm so happy to see you again!" I jumped right into her arms. _Though speaking of Christmas..._ "Say, do you think it's safe to run back for something to drink."

"Mmmm...let's give it a couple minutes, Rini. You'll know when it's clear." _Awww...but I wanted more coffee NOW!_ "I wasn't sure if you'd come back and visit us anytime soon. I mean, I guess we'd get to see you again anyway...you're Serena and Darien's FUTURE daughter after all! But if future Venus is there, and I'm here, but you're here and not there...remind me how time travel works, again?"

I playfully shook my head, fanning my smaller pigtails around. "Nuh-uh, you've got the bigger story to tell! Raye said you got to the final round of idol competitions and that you were on your way to becoming a star!"

Mina's held her smile up, but I could see the rest of her face fighting to keep it on. _Just like Raye._ "Yeah...I came so close, Rini. But the other Sailor Scouts needed me, so I had to drop it. I never got another chance like that. But like they say in show biz...break a leg! Well, um, they do say that but that's not the quote I was going for, something about starting from the bottom? I've been taking film along with drama and acting classes, I should know this! But then they tell you to go out and break your leg, what kind of people wish that on someone?"

"Mina..."

"Oh! Well, besides taking classes, I've gotten a few odd jobs here and there, like this internship!" Mina cheerfully explained. "It's like having a full-time job while we go to school, we just don't get paid!"

My eyebrows wrinkled. "I thought that was called "slavery.""

"Oh no! This isn't slavery, Rini! We're more like...dentured servants!" Stars glittered in her eyes while she pointed to her chin. "Besides, this isn't all for diddly squat! Since we're going a little bit outside the official description and doing all kinds of things not related to our job, Mister Katsamura's letting us sit in the audience during tomorrow's show! The harder we work, the closer we get to be to the stage, and you know what that means?! The camera might pan over me!"

"So you do all that work for half a second of air time?" I asked. "Meanwhile, kids can just apply and bring a parent, and they get to be on stage."

 _And the stars in Mina's eyes exploded_. "TELL ME ABOUT IT. I'M SO SICK OF THOSE LITTLE GREMLINS RUNNING AROUND, STEALING ATTENTION AND LEAVING US ADULTS TO FIGHT OVER SCRAPS OF AIR TIME..."

Even though we were far from where the game show was being filmed, we heard a cry from the audience echo through the thin wall behind Mina, then the muffled noise of an older man screaming. _Something told me that was Mr. Katsamura after her co-interns got to him..._

I clasped my hands and gave Mina the same puppy look that worked on the guard. "Why don't you find somewhere better? Just forget Mister Katsamura's stupid show and come with me to see Lita!"

"Right...Lita's thing." _And just like Raye, Mina's own frown broke through._ "You just can't be picky when it comes to show biz, Rini. I already walked out on one opportunity. I feel really bad about skipping out on Lita, I do, but I don't feel any closer to reaching my dream than I did in junior high. I wanted to be a singer...now I'm branching out into acting, and TV, and I still don't have my foot in the door. Lita's getting there, at least."

"You should go to show your friend that you support her." _I felt myself ready to cry for real this time._ "That's what being a Sailor Scout is all about! That shouldn't change just because Serena's not here!"

"Rini..." Mina grabbed me by the shoulder before I left on my own. "We're all still friends. Just because we're going in different directions doesn't mean we stopped caring. It's just...not as easy as it was before."

A beeping noise from the clock behind us warned me I had to scoot. "I've gotta leave now to make it to Lita's on time. If you can't come...do you think I should ask Darien? I haven't seen him yet. And what about Hotaru and Trista?"

Mina's eyes drifted towards the corner. "Luna and Artemis have been keeping tabs with the Outer Scouts. And Darien...he's pulled away from us quite a bit. He and Serena were engaged..."

"I know about that," I finished. _They had so much to fill me in on and we just kept running out of time._ "I was hoping you could help me get them back together."

"I...we wanted to help, Rini. But Darien already made up his mind." _Mina looked really uncomfortable telling me this, but she made the words come out_. "Another good reason for me not to go: Lita warned me her teacher's not much better than my boss when filming's over. You don't want to be late for this thing, Rini."

Mina swung the closet door open for me. _Compared to earlier, I saw people actually leaning in and whispering to each other on their way now._ I followed Mina back into the break room. "You're looking a little parched, Rini. Maybe I could sneak you a drink?"

"Sure, that would be great..." _Woo-hoo! The same coffee cup from earlier was still sitting there!_ But Mina swatted me aside and pulled the cup out of the way as soon as she caught me eyeing it.

"Uh...not that one, Rini." Mina held the cup over her head and pushed my head down when I tried to jump for it. _If only my arms had been a little longer..._

"WHY NOT?!" I went for one of the chairs to give me a height boost, but Mina ran over to the break room's far side. "What, you're worried I'll burn my tongue? It's not such a big deal! I'll just toss a couple of ice cubes in!"

"You drank from that other cup too before you broke it, didn't you?!" I ran around the table just like earlier, except this time I was chasing Mina for the coffee cup. "Those drinks were for Mister Katsamura! He takes his black with LOTS of extra caffeine to keep him peppy on TV! It'll send you up the walls, and THAT'S not a misquote Rini!"

"Come on! Friend? Buddy? Pal? JUST ONE TEENY TINY, EENSY-WEENSIE SIP!" I felt drool trickle down my mouth as I stopped my chase to beg her. "PLEASE?"

"THERE YOU ARE!" The guard I met outside earlier barged right in through the break room. _Uh oh, I was in trouble now..._ or so I thought until he cringed at the sight of Mina. "Wait, YOUR name is Mina Aino?! You're that intern who chases every male in the studio to try and get a date!"

"Who says I limit myself to the guys INSIDE the studio?" Mina winked at him. "The outdoorsy type's are just the cutest!"

"Oh no..." The guard backed off with his arms raised in the air. "Of all the interns here, why did you have to be the one to stay?!"

A single blown kiss his way, and he was out the door screaming. _Man, I needed to take notes from Mina on how to get guards out of the way._ She pushed a clear bottle against my face. "Here. WATER, Rini. I've gotta get back to work. If Darien picks up...I'll try to leave word that you'll be with Lita. Send her my love, K?"

"OK...bye Mina." I was left to exit the studio on my own. _Before, I was worried Serena and Darien's relationship was running out of juice. This was even worse: now I was seeing Mina and Raye turning into their future selves before my very eyes...always there, but at a distance._

"Mina's right...they still care," I reminded myself. _At least we got to hang out, even if grown up life cut it short._ "I just hope Lita and Darien won't be as busy..."

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** I originally planned for Lita to be included in Chapter 2, but first this one grew longer, and then I had ideas for Darien to play a role. With my stories, I wanted to give Sailor Moon's universe a slightly darker and more realistic tone: even good friends like the Sailor Scouts can drift away from each other. I've heard Sailor Moon called the glue that holds the team together: in her absence, and after their lives were nearly cut short by Galaxia (I've had to sideline a recap to keep the story moving, but it'll come), the Inner Scouts went off to do their own thing. They left their job to the Outer Scouts, who are sworn to protect the universe from outside threats. They think they've dispersed the source of all evil in the universe, and they're just waiting around for what comes next. But they might find themselves wishing they had stayed at the top of their game...

It's one thing to talk about the Sailor Scouts stumbling in their personal lives, losing their edge, in passing...here we actually get to see it unfold, and I hope you weren't disappointing. Writing from Rini's point of view, trying to imagine how she thinks, and put you guys in her head has been a lot of fun for me. I just hope I'm doing her character justice!

Last but not least, special thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave my story a favorite or follow. With any new story, I'm nervous how it will be received and the early support is heartening! I hope Chapter 2 lived up to the first...I'm looking forward to finding out! Present-day Darien and Lita will be back in Chapter 3, and Helios' return isn't far away...


	3. The Horse We Came in On

**Chapter 3: The Horse We Came In On**

"Out...of...breath...AGAIN!" I thought I left Mina's studio in plenty of time, but the rest of the hour went by so fast that I had to high-tail it the rest of the way. _But here I am, late anyway!_ _I sure hope I'm not becoming a major flake like Serena. Oh well...even she was able to squeak through high school._ I landed on my knees - _the ground was a lot softer here for some reason -_ and dumped Mina's water bottle all over my head. _OK Mina, you were right. Coffee wouldn't have been as useful if I had gotten that instead..._

A few nicely-dressed grownups, some arm-in-arm, paused to stare at me as they were walking by. And then I finally looked down at the surprisingly soft ground that was cushioning my knees. _Well, it wasn't grass_. It was a fancy red carpet...

"AH! OOPS!" I squealed and jumped back on my feet. _Oh no, it was rolled out in front of Lita's culinary school and I got it all wet! I made myself look like a giant fool in front of her classmates' guests!_ If I hadn't known, I would gone right by Lita's school without giving it a second thought. _It was just a plain brick building._

Well, it didn't look like anything special on the outside, but it sure looked nice when I walked through those doors. Lita's class was out to make us all look like royalty. _Except I felt like the one out of place here. The guys were wearing suits and the ladies were wearing fancy gowns...and I looked like I just waltzed in for a bite to eat straight after school._

"Last name?" _The greeter who met me inside the hall must have been one of Lita's classmates._ Like Serena and Mina, he had blonde hair - _not as long, of course -_ and blue eyes, plus he wore a red jacket over his white shirt and tie. _He almost looked like a parking valet instead_. He didn't take his eyes of his sheet once to even glance at me... _maybe he was just shy. Well, I wasn't._

"I'm with Lita!" Barely able to contain my own excitement, I smiled at him and held my eyes shut while handing him the printout Raye gave me earlier. "Her other friends couldn't make it, but I was in the neighborhood! I don't think she even knows I'm here yet, so I want to keep it a surprise!"

"Lita? We don't hear first names very often, but I recognize hers. Not a name you hear very often." The greeter did brighten up a bit now that we had a conversation going. _My mom and Plu both said I had that effect on people._ "I haven't really talked to her though, she's with the mediocre chefs."

"EXCUSE ME?!" _THAT little side note sent my mood in a hundred-eighty degree turn!_ "You DON'T know Lita if you think her food's mediocre! That, or she's too busy to serve you a slice of humble pie! I can feed you some!"

"You misunderstand! "Mediocre" is one of the best compliments our teacher can give! He's divvies us up before every service - the mediocre ones are the only ones he trusts to cook!" I backed off when he awkwardly flailed his arms about as if he expected me to lunge at him. "The rest of us are pond scum and...well, you're too young to hear what else he calls us anyway, but he sticks those of us in need of improvement in the dining room. Which means...odds are you won't see your friend in the dining room tonight."

"You mean at all?!" _Seeing Raye and Mina was one thing, but Lita wouldn't invite us to something where she couldn't even see us!_ "Isn't there some kind of behind-the-scenes tour, later?"

"Your friend hasn't talked about Chef very much has she?" The greeter walked me into the dining room where when the guests behind me started grumbling about the wait. "Chef absolutely HATES it when customers interrupt him in the middle of service. We've got service, then clean-ups and evaluations...hate to say it, but you might not see her until after midnight."

"I can't stay here that late!" I whimpered loudly. _There's no way Mama Ikuko would let me! There had to be SOME way to draw Lita out here._ "Can't she take a break early of something? There's a law saying you have to get breaks, right?"

"Mmmm...Chef said we're going into the wrong business for that. Nothing I can really do. Sorry." Lita's classmate pulled my seat out for me to sit in and lay the menu down at my table, then went back to his spot in the hall. As the dining room started to fill in, I spied with my little eye the kitchen in back. There was an open space where I could see one cook in a black jacket bossing around more students Lita's age _. He sure looked mean, but I wasn't gonna let that stop me..._

I tried not to bump into anyone on my way to the counter for a closer look. _I couldn't see Lita among the younger students...either she drastically cut her hair, or she tucked it away under her brimmed white hat._ I did cringe a little when her instructor saw me...but his eyes past over me like I was a fly on the windshield of Darien's car and he went back to barking orders at the class. _Did cooking really require this much yelling, or was Serena secretly taking this class with Lita?_

 _Well, he's not paying attention to me. I'll just have to do this the hard way._ I jumped up and clung to the edge of the counter to pull myself over so they could see me for sure. _I still wasn't quite as tall as I wanted to be yet._ Over all the hustle and bustle, I yelled "excuse me please!"

 _Too bad for me._ That nasty old teacher was the only one who seemed to notice me. He pointed to his right and shouted "restroom's that way, powder puff!"

"POWDER PUFF?!" I couldn't help repeating him out loud. I shook my head and yelled back at him:"Mind if I check in with my friend for like two seconds? Before you get really busy?"

"Yes, I do mind." _Lita's classmate wasn't kidding..._ their teacher's scrunched-up face reminded me of the Grinch from that American Christmas cartoon I saw when I was little. "This isn't a meet and greet. Scurry back to your table before I put "head of flamingo" on the menu."

I stuck my tongue out at him the instant he turned his back before I dropped off the counter and went stomping back to my table. _First Mina, and now Lita! Why'd they both choose to work for a grumpy pair of sourpusses?!_ I dropped back into my chair and stared up at the ceiling, trying to think how I might get Lita into the dining room and rain on that jerk's parade at the same time. The gray circular things in the roof over my head drew my eye. _Sprinkler heads...Darien pointed them out when we went to dinner one night. Hmm, pulling the fire alarm would get both done...but I didn't want to ruin Lita's night too. Besides, I heard when someone at my school tried pulling the fire alarm at school, he was caught because the handle was covered in some kind of blue dye he couldn't get off his hands in time. Although, maybe he just got caught on camera._

Two tables down, I saw a guest flag over a serving student and hold up a plate of salad. _Ick, I wasn't a big fan of salads._ "Excuse me. My salad has way too much dressing, and it looks like a pile of mush. Can you fetch whoever made this? I'd rather tell them in person than write a bad review."

"I'll fetch him right away," her server promised. HE meant no hope that my wish had just been answered, but it was an idea. With no sign of my own server approaching, I slipped my bunny backpack under the table and unzipped it. _Oh, hey Luna P! Future Mercury was right...it's amazing how much I can stuff in here just by clearing out the air! No magic needed!_ With some digging, I found just what I was looking for...a purple knit scarf and a pair of sunglasses. _Not sure why I brought these with me in the first place, but the last time I saw a show with someone complaining in a restaurant here, she wore something like this..._

Another one of Lita's classmates came by in a suit and jacket with a glass and basket. _Either he was really impressed with my new look, or he thought I was being weird_. "I, uh...brought you some bread and water while you look over the menu. You get one from each section free. Know what you want yet?" My itchy fingers dove straight for the bread and I crammed a roll into my mouth. _It was soft and fluffy as a pillow, except it tasted way better!_ I felt so bad about spitting out the piece I was chewing so my plan would work.

"It's hard as a rock!" I lied.

"All the bread was baked fresh this morning. I think," my server stammered.

"Doesn't taste like it to me!" I threw the rest of my roll back in with the others. "Whoever baked this, I wanna talk to her!"

The server's eyes crinkled. "How did you know who - "

"Have you heard the phrase "the customer is always right," before?!" I cut him off and crossed my arms. "I thought dining was supposed to be an experience!"

"I'll...see if I can get her for you. I can get you a new basket..."

"No, just get me a bowl of soup to dunk it in." I shrugged and pretended to be very huffy over the whole thing... _though deep down I was so happy he let me keep the bread for later, I didn't want to waste it._ Another student Lita's age, a girl this time, came up to my table a minute later. _Not Lita though...RATS!_

"I'm sorry the bread didn't come out right." The girl bowed. "Anything I can do to fix it?"

 _Aww, I didn't want to make her feel bad with my pretend criticism, and I didn't want to hurt her grade either._ With my server busy at another table, I saw my chance to take it back. "Nothing! The bread was perfect! Keep making it like that!"

"Oh...m-maybe I'm at the wrong table, but thank you!" She bumped into my server, on his way back to my table with the promised bowl of soup. _They both looked confused over the whole thing_.

"I brought you tomato basil." The server offered me a bowl and stuck around for my opinion. _How'd they make tomato soup taste so good?_

"How do you mess up something as easy tomato soup?!" Grudgingly, I spat my spoonful back into the bowl. "I'll get a salad instead, and I want a woman to make it after I talk to whoever let this bowl of blandness slide!"

"I...don't know if I could just put someone on another station - " My server mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds after I glared at him through my tinted lenses. "Right, customer's always right! I'll see what I can do!"

Back into the kitchen he ran and another student came my way. _BUT IT_ _STILL WASN'T LITA!_ Before she could say a word, I blurted, "what do you put in the soup to make it taste so good? I could eat this every day!"

"Just, um, cheese, some butter..." The latest cook-in-training drew her eyes on the cue card partly hidden underneath my napkin. "Oh! You know you're allowed to leave comments on the card, right? Not that we don't love the compliments, but if you want to ask for the recipe you can just leave the info."

"Oh, silly me! Guess I need a new prescription!" I laughed. _Hopefully I didn't get her twice, she'd figure out what I was up to soon enough. My server hadn't seemed to catch on yet..._

"Brought you a caesar salad. Made by one of my female classmates, just like you asked." He had the same frazzled and confused look on his face that Serena had when she was doing math homework or looking for Tuxedo Mask to bail her out of troubles. _Bleh, normally I wouldn't order vegetables when I had so many better choices! But my salad looked like it had been arranged by an artist, it MUST have been Lita's. Ugh...she shredded carrots on top!_

"This looks just like the mess I saw in the dining room earlier!" _Sorry, but I really didn't want to eat those carrots._ "It looks like somebody just dropped ingredients into a bowl and mixed them together! Take it back!"

"But that's how salads are made." Another glare stopped my server mid-mumble. He groaned "I'll see if I can get her for you..."

"YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY, CALLING HALF MY CHEFS INTO THE DINING ROOM?!" Even though Lita's teacher screeched all the way from the kitchen two minutes later, I could hear him as if he was yelling into my ear. _For now, it sounded like my poor server was getting it, though I couldn't be very far behind._ Sweat trickled down my forehead when Lita's teacher, nearly twice my size, charged into the dining room with my server close behind. _Keep your cool, maybe he's not as scary as he looks. No way he'll recognize me with these on!_

"Oh, it's you! Your friend's still busy, but maybe I could properly align your napkin with the hundred-fortieth meridian east? Or cut the crust off your PB and J sandwich?" _Wow, he sounded like he could be Serena's twin separated at birth._

"I think she wanted to go right to dessert." I clamped my hands over my mouth to avoid squealing Lita's name when I heard her voice from behind the teacher. When he swung around, there she was with an extra-large slice of chocolate cake. _Oh Lita, if you could only remember one thing about me, it would be that I LOVE chocolate!_

"Did you serve your brain to one of the guests, or do you think I'm running a daycare for dining room divas?!" _Of course, Lita's teacher had to rain on the sweets parade_. "Dessert comes LAST, you donut!"

I really, REALLY wanted to kick one of his shins but that might hurt Lita's grade if I hadn't already, so I held my breath and puffed my cheeks instead.

"Give me five minutes and that'll be the last you hear from her. Promise, Chef." Lita pleaded. _I knew Lita wasn't saying that to be mean...at least, I hoped not._

Lita's teacher hissed into her ear: "you're lucky I have a daughter her age. Five minutes." He opened his hand in her face to hammer in his point before he left us alone. There was complete silence between me and Lita for a minute: I thought she might want to snap at me for putting her grade in danger. But she smiled and rubbed the top of my head.

"Don't mind my teacher, he's just used to playing himself up for the cameras." _She looked a little older...her face had the same glow the Sailor Scouts of the future, but other than that even her hair was still the same. Of course, she STILL towered over me._

"I wanted to surprise you." A little disappointed, I dropped my shades on to the table and stuffed my scarf back into my bag.

"Yeah, "flamingo head" was a dead giveaway," Lita teased. "I was already working on a plan to bust out of there, but you beat me to it!"

 _Thinking back to Chef calling me a flamingo head made me a little sad, now that we didn't have to worry about him any more. Serena called me that all the time._ "I think leaving was a big mistake. Everyone's so distant now."

"This isn't even close to being your fault, Rini. Even before Serena left, it was rough to get the whole gang together because one of us couldn't make it." Lita stuck her tongue out at me then playfully hit my shoulder... _though it hurt more than I let on._ "But hey, tonight I'm just happy SOMEBODY made it! Now, cheer up and dig in already!" Lita's eyes seemed to grow as wide as the plate I was eating her cake off of. "So, am I any closer to being as good as Mama Ikuko yet?"

"Lita..." I laughed through my chewing. _Oh, you were always neck-and-neck with Mama Ikuko, Lita! Way too close for me to call!_

"One great thing about this class, Chef's numbing me to criticism!" Lita teased... _as much as I wished she wouldn't joke about it._ "Come on, it's OK to tell me I'm not on her level yet!"

"I never said that..." I took another bite of her delicious cake to make my point. _If only I had some lemon pie to go with it..._

If Lita leaned in any closer to me, her nose would be touching mine. "Give me SOME kind of feedback! Anything!"

"You don't need culinary school! You're the best chef under this roof and you know it!" _There! Came out and said it!_

"That's nice of you to say..." Lita smiled gently...and shook her head. "Even if you're just avoiding the question!"

"I'm serious!" I set down my fork on the few crumbs left of Lita's dessert. "I wish you and Mina found nicer bosses."

"Really? The way Mina's boss dances on stage like a maniac? I'm shocked Mina hasn't proposed yet!" Lita's cheer faded when she saw I didn't smile. "I thought Mina was too excited for the gig, even going by Mina standards. But her boss is a walking success story, and so is mine...he owns FIVE restaurants!"

"Isn't just one enough?" I asked Lita sincerely.

"It is, but...it's not just about being a good cook, Rini." _Lita looked pretty uncomfortable explaining._ "There's lots of math involved that'll make your head spin. You need money, and you need to get the word around, then you've gotta pick the best spot and know what the local tastes are - "

"Is dessert before dinner custom in the future, Rini?" I rocketed out of my chair mid-talk when a third voice joined us, one I'd been looking forward to hearing since before I came in...

"DARIEN! YOU'RE HERE!" I jumped right into his shoulders, wrapped my legs around his waist, and buried my face into his pink shirt. _At least I wasn't the only one not dressed up now_. I must have caught Darien off guard, because he almost stumbled backwards into the table behind us. "Oh, sorry!"

"I should have been prepared! You're a lot bigger than I was last time!" _Nothing made my day like Darien noticing that I was growing up._ _I still saw my dad taking off his mask to remind me he was the same man I was hugging now, just older and wiser. But it was the little differences between him and Darien that made me miss them so much between centuries...the way Darien would flick his hand and greet me with "hey Rini" instead of calling me Princess, always being around to help me with my homework every afternoon, offering me his ice cream cone at the park when I dropped mine, and sipping down hot chocolate in his apartment in front of his big screen TV. We didn't do those things in Crystal Tokyo anymore...Dad was still the best, in his own way. But Darien was, too._

"Sorry I'm a little late. Traffic was brutal." _You don't need to apologize, Darien...I'm sure Lita's just as happy as I am that you showed up._ "There were camera crews swarming all over the studio Mina works. I heard today's show took a really bizarre turn during filming."

"I didn't even know you were coming." _Lita didn't sound thrilled to see him at all. Her voice was a lot colder, like she was expecting a punch in the face._

"I didn't mean to crash." Darien came back just as defensively. "Mina just called me on the phone."

"Really? I thought you might have lost your phone." _Lita sounded like she was almost growling at him._

"MEDIOCRE M-I-A!" _Somehow, that teacher's voice always made it through to the dining room, even from the middle of the kitchen, unlike mine._ He made Lita glance down at her wristwatch. _Out of time...just like Raye and Mina._

"I've gotta run, but I can take your orders back," offered Lita. She must have noticed me frowning because she quickly added, "Chef might let me bring your stuff over."

"Don't go to any trouble for me, Lita." Darien offered her half a smile...but Lita's eyes narrowed even more.

"Darien..." Lita stood directly over him and started leaning in. "We're being graded as a class. Chef's gonna wonder why you didn't order anything and it'll sink everybody."

"I'm sure he wasn't trying to be rude, Lita!" I pleaded. Lita relaxed and let her arms hang by her sides. _She wasn't mad at him because he showed up unannounced..._

"Fine," Darien sighed and leaned into me instead. "Why don't you order first, Rini?" _I'd almost forgotten in all the excitement..._

"COOOFFFFEEEEEEEEEEE! OR, OOOH! HOW ABOUT CAPPUCCINO?" I squealed with delight. _Cappuccino has caffeine in it too, right?_ I opened my eyes to see Darien, Lita, and all the guests sitting in a cone behind them staring. _OK, maybe I sounded a bit too excited about it._

"How about we both get hot chocolate instead?" Darien suggested. _He even got Lita nodding along with him now._ "Just like we always get!"

"But I just had chocolate!" I pouted. _I knew what he was really doing...I was old enough to drink coffee now!_ But then he started looking at me with those big blue eyes of his. "Oh, alright..." I sank further into my chair.

"I can get another bowl of that soup." Darien grabbed my tossed-up salad and stuck a fork on it. _Thanks for clearing away those vegetables for me, Darien!_ "Do you mind if we share the rest? I'm really not that hungry!"

"Don't worry about your grade, Lita! I can eat enough for both of us!" I cheered.

"As if I could forget! You look like you could eat a horse right now!" Lita watched Darien facepalm after she said it, then her own eyes grew wide. "Oh, I didn't mean - sorry, Rini!"

"It's OK." I stared down at my half-finished soup. _So much for being able to eat...a whole lot._

"Why don't I...come back later?" Lita stumbled back towards the kitchen with a curt nod from Darien. _Even though Plu didn't want me spilling every little detail about their future lives in Crystal Tokyo, I guess I'd have to tell them sooner or later that Pegasus still hadn't come back to see me._

"Expecting more company, Rini?" Darien noticed I was looking over my shoulder.

"No. I thought the girls might have gotten better at spying while I was gone. But they really are that busy." _I almost wanted Serena to barge in and start crabbing at me over hogging Darien. I took for granted that she and the girls would always be here when I came back._

Darien pulled me out of my daydream with a gentle tap, so I went on to ask him how it got like this. "I dropped by Raye's first. She said nobody drops by her Temple anymore. Not even you."

"It has been a long time since I passed by. Maybe I should ask how her Grandpa is doing." Darien only took two bites out of the salad the whole time were talking.

"She said he was sleeping when I came by, but she's so stubborn about asking for help. I don't think Mina's happy either." I sat on my hands to dangle my legs over the carpeted floor. "What happened between you and Serena, Darien? Were you just busy too, or did something else happen?"

Instead of answering me, Darien crossed his arms and snickered. "So, they're trying to get you in on it too, huh?"

"In on what?" _What did he mean by that?_ Before I could ask, Lita was on her way back with Darien's soup and two hot chocolates.

"See, Rini? Told you Chef was a big softie deep down!" I was happy enough for some more chocolate - _AS MUCH AS I WANTED COFFEE -_ but Lita had just switched moods with Darien.

"Whatever scheme you're cooking up, leave Rini out of it." Whatever Darien was getting at, his choice of words startled me a bit. _Even as the King, I rarely saw him get this stern with anybody. Let alone his friends._

Lita kept her smile up. She looked totally clueless too. "Relax, I'm not looking for guinea pigs! I would have thought Serena's cooking gave you an iron stomach - "

"Don't talk about my relationship with Serena, and don't involve Rini in your meddling!" Darien ignored all my tries to get his attention and keep him from blurting out accusations towards Lita. _The last time he was acting like this, an evil mirror was controlling him!_

"Raye, Mina, and Lita barely said anything about you and Serena, Darien!" I stood out of my chair, trying to bring him back down to Earth. "I was asking for myself, I swear!"

"It's not like you even gave us the opportunity, Darien!" Lita pounded her fists on the table. "You think Raye and I didn't notice you stick your tail between your legs and walk the other way, pretending you didn't see either of us? Then when we tried calling, you read straight from you list of canned excuses to hang up on us before you just stopped answering the phone!"

"You have nothing to worry about, Rini. Serena and I are taking some time apart so we can plan out our futures together." Darien reached over to touch my hand, but he grimaced when he noticed Lita shaking her head. "You're just making Rini more upset."

"We're ALL upset Serena's not here." Lita snarled back. "And to think, we were actually worrying about you!"

"Oh, right! You three were *worried* about me!" Darien made quotation marks in the air with his fingers as he said 'worried'. "Serena and I never broke up! She made the decision to go to America herself, just like Amy left to study in Germany!"

"Amy's wanted to go to med school in Germany since we were fourteen! Serena never would have left if you hadn't started playing her hot and cold again by ending the engagement without the tiniest hint!" Lita shot back. "Sounds to me like you did it because you're chicken, Darien!"

"Lita, stop! Just let him explain!" I begged with half the dining room staring at us.

"Oh, did you chicken out on your dream, too?" Darien spat. "If real life's so easy, what's taking YOU so long to open that restaurant, Miss Mediocre?"

"Darien!" I looked back Lita's way pleadingly. "He doesn't mean that, Lita."

"I don't care, Rini. I know he didn't come here for me." Lita bitterly stared Darien down. "You know, after six years, I almost forgot how often I thought about reshaping your boringly perfect jawline!"

"HEY, DONUT!" _There was Lita's teacher, swaggering into the dining hall again_. "No, stay there! Keep entertaining my diners for free! But leave your jacket on the way out and don't bother coming back to class!"

"Dining room's the last place I want to be right now..." Lita tore herself away from the table and turned her back on Darien.

Darien dragged his coat from the back of his chair. "I'll drop you off at home, Rini."

"FORGET IT!" I screeched at both of them. "I'LL WALK HOME BY MYSELF!"

I heard Lita's teacher sigh 'thank god' but I didn't care about him. I stomped all the way out of the dining room, before Lita swung around and planted herself in my way.

"You can't walk home all by yourself, not at this hour." _Now Lita could see what pleading on deaf ears felt like._ I knew it was Darien walking in behind me, but I wouldn't even look at him. "Please, let Darien take you home. Or, I can call - "

"No wonder Amy and Serena went halfway around the world to get away from you guys!" I balled my own fists at Lita. "I'm already sorry I came back!"

Finally, Lita's glare cracked and she looked up to Darien. "I shouldn't have brought up Serena. For what it's worth, I hope you work things out. But it's your business."

"I take back what I said. I'm sorry, I won't bring it back up." Darien stayed behind me and gave me a bear hug from where he was standing. "I know how confusing all of this must be for you. But you have my undivided attention on the way home. We'll get you up to speed on everything."

Lita reached under his arms and tickled my side. "Still buddies?" I reached for her hand underneath. _I was definitely worried about her cross-armed teacher behind him, but maybe it was a good sign he wasn't throwing her out._

"Come on..." Darien smiled when I did look up at him. "It's already past ten. We'd better get you home to Mama Ikuko..."

 _IT WAS ALREADY AFTER TEN?! SHOOT!_

* * *

Darien apologized in advance for taking me home in the same "piece-of-junk" red sports car in the parking lot. I didn't see anything wrong until he revved the engine. _It was a whole lot louder than it used to be._ Every time he sputtered, he grumbled lots of words under his breath that I never heard before. Darien mentioned that his mechanic friend, Natsumi, made her dream of fixing that old classic car come true but then she moved to make a career out of fixing other old cars _._ Darien also told me what happened to the team after he left...that he got on the plane to America but it never landed. A fallen Sailor Scout in golden armor, Galaxia, attacked him and took his Star Seed away...like our dreams, we all had a Star Seed, but the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask had special ones. Poor Serena was left to wonder why Darien never answered her messages... _and he grumbled about some other guy she got close to while he was gone._ All the other Sailor Scouts... _Hotaru too..._ lost their Star Seeds trying to save everyone, but Sailor Moon redeemed Galaxia and saved the day, like she always did. _But even he had trouble explaining why things didn't go back to normal after._

"I'm so sorry I left when I did." I sank in the sideseat. _Not far to the house now._ "If I knew you still needed my help - "

"Don't be sorry. You came here to train with us, and you did." Darien parked in front of the house after mumbling some more bad words at the car he thought I couldn't hear, but he kept a tight grip on the steering wheel. "And I'm relieved you didn't go through what we did. I saw you, and Serena...all the others, and all the things I wouldn't get to do, flash before my eyes. And now...with Serena gone, I'm becoming the person I used to be when I first met her. Not your Prince Charming anymore."

"You are our Prince Charming," I reminded him. "It was never an act."

"Lita has a point." Darien took his keys out of the ignition. "Even after you almost disappeared before our very eyes...I thought Serena and I could just put our futures on hold. That's why I called off our engagement...I felt I had so much to do first. Graduate from Harvard, save up enough money to take care of three instead of one, get this jalopy fixed..." Darien paused when Mama Ikuko threw the front door open and stared at the car with her hands on her hips. "One thing at a time, right?"

"Right..." _I hoped Lita sneaking in a call ahead would soften the blow, but I'd never seen Mama Ikuko look so angry at ME before. Serena, yes._

"I asked you not to come home late, and it's almost eleven o'clock!" _Mama Ikuko didn't even wait until I was at the doorstep before she laid into me._ "I called Dad and he raced back early for your welcome home dinner, only to waste most of the night driving around looking for you! Now he's asleep because he has to take an early shift in the morning to make up the hours!"

"I'm sorry, Mom..." I felt Darien gently rub my shoulder. _I wish I could take his hand, but if Papa Ken happened to look out the window, he'd blow a head gasket and chase Darien halfway to Osaka._ "I should have called - "

"But you don't have a cellphone! You know what that means: we get to take a trip to Juban Mall tomorrow!" Mama was smiling while she spun around with clasped hands, as if she instantly forgot she was mad at me. But she quickly doubled back down. "I'm still hurt and disappointed you forgot about your family. Darien...thanks for dropping Rini off, but we have to set boundaries while she's here and a curfew is one of them."

"I understand." Darien patted me on the back gently. "Sweet dreams, Rini."

"Goodnight, Darien." _If only he could stay a little longer...it we could just call Serena on the phone, talk her into coming back and making everything better._

"While you were away, I set up your bedroom." Mama Ikuko sighed when my stomach growled at the worst time. "And we still have leftovers in the fridge. Including your lemon pie."

"Mama Ikuko...is it OK if I borrow the phone? I want to call Serena and Amy." She took a minute to think about it, but she conceded to my silent plea.

"After you take your bath and eat. You can have one more hour before bed, but no TV." Mama Ikuko started going up the stairs. "We'll finish our talk in the morning, after you apologize to Dad."

"OK." _I'm sorry I didn't get to see you tonight, Papa Ken. I really am_. "Good night, Mama..."

 _Mama Ikuko always took such good care of me._ My room looked as if I never left...she even laid out my old bed sheets with the bunny and Luna faces on them. _I still hadn't seen Luna and Artemis yet...I wondered if they were working extra hard with the Inner Scouts and Darien on leave, what other threats might be out there. Where Hotaru, Trista, Amara and Michelle were..._ Mama had also laid out one of Serena's old nightgowns for me to wear. _Oh well, there's no way my old one would have fit me anymore_.

After a bite to eat - _and after I snuck just a few minutes of TV -_ I grabbed the phone and dialed Amy's phone number. _I wanted to talk to her first in case I ran out of time...if I had to hang up on someone, it was bound to be meatball head._ But one thing I didn't like about the twenty-first century was having all these buttons to press so close to each other. I accidentally pressed the voicemail button instead and had to type Amy's number AGAIN...

"Good morning, Mister and Misses Tsukino. Sorry if I'm calling at a bad time, this is Misses Dziedzic, Serena's academic counselor?" _Hold up, I needed to hear this._ "We don't usually call the parents regarding our students' academic behavior, but Serena's grades have fallen well below the minimum GPA needed to stay in the international program. I'm trying to help her but she's also been skipping out on our meetings. She's running out of time to turn her grades around...if she fails another subject, we'll have no choice but to remove her from the program and send her home. I know there's not a lot you can do for her at this point, but I wanted to give you a heads up and keep you informed. If there's anything you wish to discuss with me about Serena's progress or our program, feel free to give me a call back. Thank you, bye."

 _Oh no...Mama Ikuko would blow her top if she found out meatball brain fell back into her old habits. I didn't want her to come back THIS way! I couldn't let her get in trouble!_

 _...Wait, what am I saying? This is SERENA I'm talking about! Like flunking out would be anything new for her!_

 _But look how messed up everything is! Do I really want to risk making everything worse? Maybe Serena will turn it around again. She always came through as Sailor Moon, and everyone's bragging about how much better she's doing - maybe she just hit a rough patch. Darien said he'd call her - one little pep talk from him works miracles!_

 _OK, you win._ I pressed the delete button and erased the message. For the third time, I dialed Amy's number and sat through seven rings, only to get an error message...

"The mailbox belonging to Amy Andersen is full and cannot accept new messages at this time. Please try again later. Goodbye."

 _I never got a message like that before. Amy was always super-focused on studying. Complete opposite of Serena, even the "new and improved" version apparently. There's loads of other ways I can get in touch with Amy in this century...I wonder if they still use "e-mail" or if that's completely antiquated..._

 _But what's the point? She'll just say she's too busy like everybody else._

"Time for bed, Rini!" Mama Ikuko shouted from her bedroom. I pulled round kitty-faced companion out of my backpack and carried her up the stairs. _I wouldn't care if Serena was here to laugh at me for bringing Luna-P...I wanted ONE friend at my bedside. It still hurt to look at the top of my dresser and not see Pegasus' globe there._

I brought Luna-P into bed with me, and squeezed Plu's Space-Time Key in my hand. _Maybe...I should think about just going home._ I let my necklace fall down into my nighties, hugged Luna-P, and closed my eyes. _Three years back in Crystal Tokyo, dreaming about the day I came back to the twenty-first century and surprised all my friends. Who knew the real thing would turn out so crummy.  
_

* * *

 _"Rini..."_

"Huh?" My eyes lazily drifted open after a voice woke me up. _I didn't feel Luna-P in my arms anymore...she must have rolled onto the floor while I was sleeping._ "Papa Ken?"

 _"Sailor Mini Moon..." That same voice again. A man's voice. No way that was Papa Ken calling me..._

"Darien?" With a little more urgency, I sat up and lifted my window open. _No one in the street below..._ instead, I was greeted by a strange moon, glowing like the sun and so large it looked like it was about to crash into the Earth. _I hadn't seen that since..._

"PEGASUS?!" The sound of a horse's faint neigh in the distance cleared away any last doubts I had. _HELIOS! It was him! He was here! HE FINALLY CAME BACK!_

I was surprised to hear the tap of shoe soles when my feet landed on the ground. _I was wearing the same dress from earlier today, along with my socks and shoes! This must be a dream...I left my shoes at the door, like always. I threw my clothes in the laundry and wore Serena's night gown to bed. But it didn't matter! Just the thought of seeing Pegasus again, even if this wasn't really happening, even if it wasn't really him...it had been so long since I had even seen him as an image in my dreams! And if it really was him...he could see me as I was when he left, how much I had grown since then..._

I ran down the stairs of an empty house, no Mama or Papa or Sammy yelling for me to get back into bed, and followed the distant neighs through the winding roads of Tokyo. _Just like our first dream together...as if we were reliving the very first time we met. I didn't care how fast I ran this time. My legs didn't hurt, and I had enough breath to run forever if that's how long it took to see the Crystal woods again._  
 _  
And there they were, exactly how I remembered:_ clear crystals lined neatly alongside the green shrubs and magnificent trees. The darkness of night had given way to an aurora in the sky, the colors of the rainbow all blending into one. And there he was, standing on the lake, the figure of a majestic white unicorn with the golden horn and his wings stretched outwards. _Pegasus...Helios...it had been years, but he kept his promise._

 _"I traveled so far...I waited so long...to see your light again..."_ I felt my face glowing red, and heard my own heart pounding so loudly along the same beats as his voice.

"Me too..." My own voice came out as a quiet whisper, like I was trying to speak while the rest of my body was still asleep. "I thought about you every day. I knew you'd never forget me."

My face burned in an all-out blush when he looked at me with those radiant, piercing red ovals of his from an ever-closing distance. _All I wanted now was to reach out and touch him again...to prove to myself he was really back. "But all is...n_ _ot as it appears, Rini..."_

"No..." I felt the color drain from my face after Pegasus uttered the words I dreaded to hear. "This IS the Crystal Forest, exactly the way I remembered it!" Just as quickly, my panic gave way to pleading. "Just tell me if it's really you." The pace of my breathing grew faster as Pegasus' mane drew closer to my fingertips. "Please. I have to know..."

Just when I felt the tip of his gentle hair, all but proving to me this really WAS happening, a massive crack split open the grass underneath my feet. The gulf between me and Pegasus widened and the ground under him rose into the bittersweet sky, denying me just one more look. "PEGASUS!" I screamed his name, desperate to grab hold of the cliff so I could climb later. But my own plateau tilted at an angle, and left me sliding in the opposite direction. The forest's beauty gave way to bleak, heartless stone-like walls. _How could fate be so cruel to us again? Brought together just to be ripped apart again..._

* * *

I looked to the ruined walls separating me from Pegasus, circling me like some kind of ancient stadium. _I'll climb over them if that's what it takes._ But I leaped backwards and yelped when I almost tripped over something even more disturbing...several bodies lying on the ground, all covered in various furs. I did breath a sigh of relief when I saw the chest of the one lying in front of me was still rising up and down... _but their energy had been completely sucked dry._ "What happened to all of you?" I wondered out loud. Some of them had weapons lying next to them...axes that looked like they were just carved from stone, and poles lacking the elegance of the staffs you would find in Crystal Tokyo.

I was answered from a wisp of black smoke that sent me into a coughing fit as it swirled together in front of me, taking the shape of a hooded person. _Whoever they were, their robes looked just like Wiseman's...I cringed at the thought he came back to torture me. But he was gone for good...it wasn't him. It couldn't be._ I thought being shorter would be an advantage here, make it easier to peek into their hood...but he or she had no face, no eyes, no features of any kind. _It was like staring into the deepest and darkest of black holes._

I put on the bravest face I could and took hold of my brooch... _though all the bodies lying in front of me sapped most of my confidence_. _If Pegasus didn't answer my calls to help me, how was I gonna fight against something like this by myself?_

 _Because he believed in me. I was here for him...THAT'S how._ With my courage back, I stood up straight just like my mother taught me and looked into his or her empty face."Who are you? Have you been keeping Pegasus from seeing me?"

 _"I'LL DRAG YOU BACK TO THE MOON IN CHAINS!"_ I clutched my head in pain when the phantom's bellowing voice split my skull apart. _I knew he couldn't be Wiseman...but next to him, I almost wished Wiseman was here instead._ His robes slid down when he lifted his arms into the air, but even they were pitch black, like I was staring into empty space. All except for the gleam of silver light I noticed from his right forearm. _"MY WARRIORS, STAND WITH ME!"_

Again, I almost tripped backing away from the bodies lying on the ground shambling to their feet. It was like a scene straight out of one of those zombie movies I was too young to watch. Their eyes were blank, just like the figure of the phantom in front of me. And as if I had just landed in a horror movie, the phantom stood unnaturally still, with his arms still lifted towards the sky as if somebody clicked the pause button. But he turned his attention back to his soldiers - and me - soon enough and resumed his threat...

 _"AFTER WE TEACH THIS DOUBLE-CROSSING WITCH AND THOSE WHO DARE STAND WITH HER A LESSON..."_

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Pretty cruel fake-out at the end, but sometimes cliffhangers are necessary. Wouldn't have much of a story if I didn't leave you wanting more! Took a while to finish this one - I was hoping for another one week wonder, but it took a few extra days. I hope the added length was worth it. I am worried that the reunions slowed things down too much, and I wonder if I should have held on to Pegasus' return (alongside a certain other character from SoSM...) for next chapter. But those introductions at the end were two scenes I was really looking forward to, and I hope it all came together in the end. Like Lita and Mama Ikuko, I love reviews :) Good, bad, or in between, let me know!

PS: If you've read SoSM before, did you recognize the scene at the end? If you did, you deserve a cookie :) A few of you asked me if a certain fan-favorite from SoSM (two, maybe?) would appear in the prequel even if it takes place several weeks before they actually met Rini. Surprised? Confused?


	4. Double Moon Downgrade

**Chapter 4: Double Moon Downgrade**

 _Now, I wish I had watched more of those grown up zombie movies so I'd know how they got out of this without Tuxedo Mask._ The faceless, robed figure who just raised this spooky army against me stood there as if someone pressed the pause button, mocking my fear with his outstretched arms. But his fur-laden army wasn't keeping still...some of them grabbed their shabby weapons off the ground while the rest dragged their feet towards me. My fingers gripped my brooch even more tightly while I looked backwards, desperate for a way out. _But the ruined coliseum walls were so high, way too tall for me to climb, and there was no stairway leading into the crumbling seats. There was no exit I could see._

 _Darien...Pegasus...I hope you're up there somewhere. Somebody always comes just when I need them to. But I can't just stand here waiting to be saved. I've gotta transform!_

 _At least the mystery men in furs were a lot slower than I was._ I was able to put a good amount of distance between us before my back went flat against the wall. I clutched my brooch with one hand and raised my other in the air, then I called out "Super Moon Crisis - AAAHH!"

A squeal escaped my lips when the light-absorbing Phantom's limbs started twitching and jerking, as if some invisible force-field was shocking him, before he disappeared out of thin air _. Not the same as before, when he formed out of a trail of black smoke...he just vanished._ But he appeared in front of me just as instantly, still missing features of any kind, and grabbed my shoulders with ice-cold hands. I shivered with my fingers grasping my brooch even more tightly _. He may not have been Wiseman, but the last time I remember feeling this scared was when he turned me over to his side._

My body refused to move when the faceless monster pulled my body in closer to his and he... _he HUGGED me_. I saw blinded by the flash of a tall and strong man in the forest with furs around his back, just like the zombie warriors he raised against me... _except he didn't look like a fighter_. _He was in the forest hunting_ , _and I was seeing him through the eyes of a kid._ With the next flash, I saw the man on his knees in a small wooden house. _This time soldiers in green armor were threatening him, with glowing light blue energy swords pointed at his throat_... _and I felt the kid's helplessness to stop them._ It was just a flash, but I felt so paralyzed that my brooch slipped through my fingers and dropped on the floor with a clank. This Phantom - _this second Death Phantom -_ evaporated into thin air again. And his very real-looking zombie warriors had closed the gap in the meantime.

One of Junior Phantom's zombie warriors lurched forward just when I reached down to pick up my brooch and shoved me sideways, leaving me on the floor. Then he pinned me down by falling on top of me. The rest of the horde behind him kicked my brooch around with their clumsy feet until I couldn't see it anymore. They all crowded around me as if I was the Thanksgiving Turkey: _I don't know if Death Phantom Junior brought these guys back as real zombies, but the one holding me down was drooling all over my ribbon_. I tried grabbing both his wrists to brace myself while I kicked another zombie clawing for my legs, but there were at least two dozen more where they came from _. Lita and Mina would have no trouble fending these guys off, even without their powers. Everybody else had something special. All I could do was wait for one of them, or Tuxedo Mask, or Pegasus..._

 _No. They all taught me to be strong! I just hope these aren't real zombies._..I opened my chompers, grabbed one of the arms holding me down, and bit into his wrist as hard as I could. _It didn't feel like a human arm...his skin was hard as ice. At least I didn't have to worry about being infected by his blood or however this worked: biting a zombie couldn't be a good idea._ He didn't yelp, or wince, no sign I hurt him at all...but he moved just enough to let me squirm out from under him. I saw my brooch: it was lying on the sandy floor between all those other zombies _. But it was my best shot._ I shoved several of them out of my way and made a blind run for it: one zombie hand grabbed the strap of my dress and another nearly ripped my skirt off, but I pulled away from them with my dress intact and dove for my compact.

"Gotcha!" I cheered when my fingers ran across the edges of the heart-shaped crystal, but another zombie warrior was closing in on me. _Here goes nothing:_ I jumped towards him feet-first and shouted "Super Moon Crisis Power!"

I felt the warm glow from my brooch - _Pegasus' dream energy -_ clearing away the grimness of the Phantom's touch. My dress shimmered away as magical pink ribbons covered my body to create my Sailor Scout outfit. My shoes and socks faded away to make room for my boots. Through my transformation, I noticed that the closest zombie warrior stutter-stepped backwards, but my boots were fully there when my feet slammed into his chest. He staggered backwards, further than if I had tried that jumping kick before I transformed.

"Alright!" My newly-gloved hand made the sideways 'V' sign in front of the gem of my tiara, but that little voice in my head smacked me for celebrating too soon. _Sure I pushed away one, but I couldn't kick the other thirty all at once! But the zombies were just staring blankly at me, like they lost their appetite or got bored or something. Hmm...maybe they weren't so mindless after all. Maybe...they were waiting for me to introduce myself?_

"No sign of your boss, Death Phantom Junior or whatever he's called..." _I was scared he'd pop out of thin air again just like last time but I had to look confident._ "But you were wearing those poor animals like scarves before he started pulling your strings, and I know my furry friends wouldn't approve! So I'm Sailor Mini - HUH?!"

Mid-speech, the fox draped around one of the zombies' shoulders BLINKED its eyes at me. _The black in them was oversized and blank, just like the person he was riding...but the fox was AWAKE._ Two dozen other pairs of eyes started glaring at me too before they slid off their masters' shoulders. I saw foxes, wolves, a bear... _someone was even wearing a bunny rabbit._

"Oh...so you haven't been turned into winter wear yet! My bad!" I gave the critters a wide-tooth smile and raised my hands up in front of me, but then they started snarling... _and drooling, just like their hungry-looking owners_. "Uh...can I start this over? This is for you, Death Phantom Junior! How dare you drop an underage kid into a scary monster movie! I'm an apprentice - "

The snarling zombie furs - _even the bunny rabbit -_ lunged at me with open jaws halfway through my speech. I dove out of the way, but their human pals dragged their feet my way again. Mid-sprint, I reached for the Crystal Chime nested between my back ribbon and clinging to my yellow belt. _Pegasus...could I bring you back to me so easily? I sure needed your help right about now..._

"Please, Pegasus - " I stopped and lifted my Chime in the air to try calling him, only to narrowly miss a pair of foxes nipping for my boots. "Protector of - " THEN I barely dodged a fox that leaped into the air, snapping for my arm. "Dreams!" And THEN I was nearly mauled by the bear rearing up on its hind legs to fall on top of me. Frustrated tears streamed down my cheeks. "NOT FAIR! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LET ME FINISH! WWWWAAAAAHHHHH!" _  
_  
"DIAL IT DOWN BEFORE YOU COLLAPSE A HISTORICAL LANDMARK, MOTOR MOUTH!" _Someone was calling me from the top of the wall! A wall that now had several big cracks running down the middle. Oh right...my hair gems could turn my cries into supersonic waves, like when Sailor Moon and I were held up in that dollhouse. Everyone attacking me was lying on the ground, covering their ears with their hands and paws too._ I looked back up at whoever was teetering on the edge of the wall, trying to keep their balance...

"Tuxedo Mask?" I thought at first. But as much as I hoped it was him, I knew he'd have no trouble balancing. My heart skipped a beat when he - _or she -_ tipped over the edge with no cape trailing behind them. _Wait...they called me 'motor mouth'. I knew just who would spout a name like that at me...  
_  
"MOON ETERNAL POWER!" _SERENA?! SHE WAS HERE TOO?!_ Even from all the way up there, I saw her crescent moon symbol illuminate her forehead as large, feathery white wings - _just like Pegasus' -_ folded and unfurled around her body to slow her descent. Her own heart-shaped brooch glowed a gentle pink while she glided to the ground like a beautiful swan. She circled above us while feathers danced around her arms to create her longer white gloves. I was reminded just how different her outfit was from the rest of ours the closer she drifted towards us - even if her white boots were still knee-high, plus she kept the skirt, gloves and white leotard _._ Sailor Moon twirled with the grace of a ballerina when her feet touched the ground, the same blonde locks I remembered her for flowing behind her. _Grace she never showed as Serena_... _she might have looked just like her, but for a second I doubted she was the same meatball head..._

"Sailor Moon?" I couldn't help mumbling my disbelief out loud... _but her smug little smirk paired with the vacant look in her dull blue eyes cleared any doubt she was the same meatball head_. I crossed my arms and grumbled "thanks for coming, but quit showing off."

Sailor Moon's face went all scrunchy, like when Darien kissed her after a big garlic-y meal without having a breath mint, but she swooshed her long pigtails side-to-side and faced the impatient zombie horde. "Pardon my...gggrrr, FELLOW SCOUT for dropping into a decrepit stadium in the middle of nowhere of all places. Just got sick of the park, I guess? But that doesn't mean you can eat her! I'm Sailor Moon - "

"THEY'RE NOT GONNA WAIT FOR YOU TO FINISH!" I grabbed Sailor Moon by the arm and dragged her after me with the impatient animals snarling after us. Now, there were TWO Sailor Scouts getting chased around the decaying coliseum by a pack of zombie furs, with their their half-dead owners stumbling close behind.

"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!" Sailor Moon came up alongside me in a full sprint. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET RID OF THEM!"

"ME?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE HERE PROTECTING ME!" I yelled with what little breath I could spare. _Yeah, NOW she was keeping up with me...every time we went out for groceries, she was always whining for me to slow down!_

"I'M KINDA RUSTY AT THE GUARDIAN HALF OF THE JOB!" Sailor Moon fell behind me slightly, just enough for me to see she was holding a familiar silver rod with a red gem on top...

"It wasn't THAT long ago!" I pointed back to her upgraded wand. _I only saw the Eternal Rod a few times before I left, but I still remembered what it was!_ "USE THE ROD IN YOUR HANDS!"

"I KNOW, I KNOW!" With some distance between us and the monsters, Sailor Moon stopped running to look her rod over like she was holding it for the first time. "Uh...what was my line again?"

"I DON'T REMEMBER!" Both of us were forced to scramble apart to avoid being tackled by jumping and flying furs. "YOU GOT IT JUST BEFORE I LEFT!"

"WAIT! IT'S COMING BACK TO ME!" A gust of feathers and the swoosh of a whirlwind followed my very long exhale. Sailor Moon attached her rod to some kind of chalice I didn't recognize - _though it looked kind of like the Purity Chalice she used to use to transform into Super Sailor Moon._ After showing it off to the whole coliseum, she raised her Eternal Tiare up in the sky and spun in the gale she just created. "SILVER MOON...CRYSTAL POWER KISS!"

Golden beams of light struck every zombie standing in front of us. Every single one of them went down with one hit. _Amazing...she just forgot she had this much power this whole time?!_ I was pulled away by the clank of Sailor Moon dropping her rod. She was on her knees, panting. "Almost wiped myself out with that. Hasn't happened since..." Sailor Moon smiled when I worriedly ran up to her. "Well, you were with me the last time that happened. Said I was a little rusty."

"I hope you get it back quick. Death Phantom Junior's still out there somewhere." She must not have seen him earlier, because Sailor Moon's eyes grew as wide as the moon when I called him that. "Uh, that's just my name for him. I don't think he's the same Wiseman."

"What's with you attracting these demon hooded phantom types? What does this one want?" Sailor Moon's question was followed by a familiar wisp of black smoke spinning around her like a mini tornado. Sailor Moon heard it too and sprung back to her feet...but one of her wings knocked me to the floor on my face after she swung around. "Oh, sorry!"

"Look out!" _Phantom Junior didn't wait for Sailor Moon either_ : before I could warn her, he slammed into her like a magically-fueled rocket and shoved her into the crumbling wall behind us. _He didn't seem too interested in me right now..._ again, I reached for the Crystal Chime that Pegasus gave me when I first called for his help. I clutched its heart-shaped handle praying I could bring him back again, wherever he was. _Pegasus always came when we needed help..._

"Please Pegasus! Protector of dreams!" I called to him with my hands folded on one knee, then rang my chime in the grim air. "Crystal Twinkle Bell!" Phantom Junior held Sailor Moon to the wall, as if he was also waiting for Pegasus to show _...but he didn't answer me. Pegasus wouldn't have called me here if it were that easy._ Sailor Moon grimaced when Phantom Junior pressed his shadowy fingers against the side of her forehead, just beside her crescent moon mark. _Well, I could still use the Crystal Chime like my old wand for Pink Sugar Heart Attack. Here goes nothing, I guess..._

 _"PRINCESS..."_ Phantom Junior's voice came as a small whisper in my head this time, not the mind-crushing roar that nearly split my head open. Just when I raised my bell to Junior's back, he became a wisp of black smoke and trailed over the coliseum walls. _He just left us here...and all the warriors he raised up just vanished with him._

"Wiseman or no Wiseman...that was creepy." _And she didn't know about the image I saw from his mind earlier, when he grabbed me._ Sailor Moon leaned against the wall, exhausted, but she smiled weakly when I reached under her arm so she could lean on me. "You haven't changed a bit, kiddo."

"You're the only one who thinks that," I smiled... _and let her fall on me so I could hug her._ "Serena...silly as always. And still pathetic without me."

"I'M PATHETIC?!" Sailor Moon shoved me away with a sudden burst of energy. "Did regular time travel scramble your only two brain cells, or did you forget those ghouls would be gnawing on them if I didn't come to your rescue?!"

"Wait...it's really you, right? Not some dream version? I know I'm really here because I remember waking up in bed with my shoes on, and the same dress I threw in the laundry earlier." _I knew not to tell her I went to bed in HER night gown, or that Mama Ikuko was giving me Serena's old clothes, because she'd make SUCH a big deal out of it. Again, that empty look in Serena's eyes...maybe a zombie crept in there and gnawed on HER only two brain cells when I wasn't looking._

"Hmm...I don't remember going to bed, but then I can't remember what I ate for breakfast either." _That's nothing new_ _, Serena._ She flicked her hand to dismiss me. "Waking up with all your clothes on doesn't prove anything though! Happens to me all the time in school! Wait til...OH NO!"

"What?" I started looking around for Phantom Junior, thinking he might have come back.

"I CAN'T FALL ASLEEP! NOT NOW!" Sailor Moon pinched herself HARD on her exposed arm. "WAKE UP, SERENA!"

"What time is it in America, anyway?" I asked, but Sailor Moon just ignored me and started pulling her cheek, then slapping her face repeatedly. _She still doesn't care about looking stupid in public, I see!_ Then Sailor Moon did a one-eighty and backed away from the wall as if she was about to ram it. _We'd never find Pegasus at this rate._ Sailor Moon WAS serious about charging into the wall, and she started kicking up the dirt behind her. So I plucked my tiara off my forehead with two fingers and called out "Moon Tiara Magic!"

"YYYYOOOWWW!" Sailor Moon whined after my tiara flew into the back of her head, bonking her right between the meatballs. _No turning my tiara into a glowing magical frisbee, but I had the aim for it_. Sailor Moon grit her teeth and waved a fist at me. "Don't you start ripping off my attacks too, you little plagiarist! Bad enough you're copying me with the longer hair, as if it makes you look like an actual Princess!"

I shrugged innocently. "I was only helping! Wait...so what if I let my hair grow a bit longer?! How many times have we gone over this? This is my MOM'S hairstyle, not yours!"

"Oh yeah?!" Sailor Moon flicked one of her pigtails at me and held it up by the middle with two fingers. "And how many times do WE have to remind you "honor thy future mother?""

"I still don't fully buy it! Darien might have found your much nicer, long-lost twin and married HER instead!" Sailor Moon's lips started trembling. _Uh oh...dream Serena or not, I shouldn't have brought up Darien. But Pegasus didn't have time to wait for girl talk - I had to get Serena back on track, FAST!_ I darted for my tiara, still lying next to Moon's boots, while she was too distracted to retaliate by playing fetch with it. "Hey Serena, can you fly us both over the wall with those ginormous wings?"

The tears drained back into Sailor Moon's eyes when she stared up at the wall. _At least she wanted to get out of here as badly as I did...that seemed to do the trick._ Sailor Moon hopped into the air but fall back on her feet. She tried jumping again, getting just a little higher. Then again... _and again...AND AGAIN, even when she obviously wasn't getting any higher_. "Come on! I've done this before!"

 _What did future Mars say the definition of insanity was? Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result each time?_ "Are those wings good for anything other than knocking things over?!"

"Hey, it's not like I designed the outfit, squirt!" Sailor Moon finally stopped hopping to pout some more before she switched to gloating. "Though they knocked YOU over, so that's a big plus!"

"This isn't our first dream rodeo," I face-palmed. _I remembered falling asleep and waking up, Pegasus called ME here...even if he called Serena too, despite her lack of any sense of urgency._ "Maybe if I close my eyes and focus really hard on somewhere else, or a blimp that can fly us out of here - "

"Hold on! I just had a thought!" Sailor Moon cut in. "You said I might be some dime-a-dozen dream Serena, right? What if I am?! Just some pale imitation of the real Sailor Moon?!"

"Well, if you're having deep thoughts like that, questioning your existence, maybe you're NOT the real one," I joked... _until the truth of those words hit me like a pile of bricks. I couldn't have missed her so badly I created some dream version of her with my own mind to help me find Pegasus, could I?_

"WAAAAAH! I DON'T WANT TO BE A PHONY-BALONEY, MAKE BELIEVE SAILOR MOON! I WANT TO EXIST!" Sailor Moon wailed.

"Well, you're certainly as annoying as the real one," I complained while pinching the bridge of my nose. "I hope I don't sound like that every time your relationship with Darien hits the rocks. Now, if you're not gonna help, at least close your mouth for two seconds so I can focus!"

"Fine!" She finally listened to me and closed her eyes before I followed suit, giving me exactly two seconds before: "picturing us riding out of here on a big flying dream barge, along with the look on your face when you open your eyes, see no barge, and realize how stupid your plan was...HUH?! THAT ACTUALLY WORKED?!"

* * *

A flicker of disappointment set in when I didn't open my eyes to the Crystal Forest, but the place I brought us to wasn't any less beautiful. Sailor Moon and I stood on a white balcony that overlooked a gleaming white courtyard. _Even compared to Crystal Tokyo, it looked perfect._ Crystal clear water flowed from pole fountains into the glittering pond below. The sky was so dark and beautiful, the stars closer than I'd ever seen them before. And in the lake, I saw a reflection of our own planet...

"Can it be?" My question was answered with ANOTHER blank stare from Sailor Moon. _What a slowpoke._ I had to spell out the obvious: "We're standing on the Moon! In the first Palace!"

"You mean Silver Millennium?" _And Sailor Moon ruined the moment with her hyena-like laughter_. "Can't you tell this is some fake dream version? Not that you were close to being born then, Rini! How would you know what the Moon Palace looked like?"

I stomped my foot hard on the ground... _and immediately regretted scuffing the flawless floor with my boot heel._ "Like I don't know what happened to it! Explain why this is such an obvious fake then, meatball brain!"

Sailor Moon snorted and pointed down the hall of many arches leading further into the Castle. "See? On that side of the hall, there was a...wait, maybe it was some other hallway?" _Sailor Moon's train of thought already went off the rails_. She tried to start over by pulling me back to the edge of the balcony. "Next to that arch, at the edge of the lake, there was a vase! Oh wait...it's there, just on the other side." She saw me cross my arms and raise an eyebrow at her but she ignored me as long as I could, desperately pointing around with her mouth hanging open, before she gave up. "OK, so my past memory's a little fuzzy. You're still a dweeb!"

"Excuse me!" I caught a pair of figures rustling down the hallway and waved to them, but they didn't seem to hear me. _We weren't alone here after all._ Turning back to Sailor Moon, I asked: "think this is one of Phantom Junior's traps? Why would Helios call us to a memory of the old kingdom?"

"HELIOS?!" Sailor Moon's jaw hung open after she repeated his name. _We really should get Serena to a doctor if her memory's THIS bad!_

"You remember Helios? Pegasus?" I cupped my hand over my forehead to try to jog her memory. "Big golden horn on top of his - "

"I remember who he is, Mini Moon!" Sailor Moon groaned. "Is he in trouble? You barely said a word about him after he left."

"I thought he called you here too!" I clenched my fists and started growling after Sailor Moon shook her head. "What, then? You waltzed into my dream to spy on me?!"

Sailor Moon crossed her arms. "NO! In what delusional dreamland would I invite myself in to bounce around your empty bobble head?!"

"The same one you where you invite yourself into my room, and to peek in my notebooks, even my art class!" I snapped back at her. "I sure didn't invite you here, and there's no way you're some dream version I cooked up - "

"Because you'd pick Darien and any of the others over me any day of the week, right?!" Sailor Moon raised her fists to her chin and her trembling lips made an upside-down 'w'. _She was crying again...and not in her usual 'cry about everything' sort of way._ "Just like you said, "everyone's way more reliable than Sailor Moon!""

"I didn't say that!" _Or did I...a long time ago, maybe? We went at it like this all the time!_

"But that's what you meant! I'm just extra dream baggage...like in real life!" _Oh no...I forgot she was extra sensitive and hurt her feelings._ Sailor Moon nearly knocked me over again with her wings when she brushed past me, charging headlong into into the empty corridor and wiping her face with one arm.

"SAILOR MOON!" I chased after her when she came within arms' length of the big white doors waiting at the end of the hall. "IT'S GOTTA BE A TRAP!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT SOME STUPID DREAM-TRAP!" She gulped down her tears before she slammed both massive doors in my face. I threw them back open and found myself in the middle of a classic ball room. There were more well-dressed couples here, just like at Lita's soiree _. No loud annoying man in a chef's jacket in sight, thank God._ The other guests didn't pay any attention to me, and they didn't seem the least bit ruffled by Hurricane Moon blowing through. They kept dancing around a flight of stairs with purple rails that seemed to go up forever. _They reminded me of Princess Serenity's stairway, as Luna once described to me. Maybe they led straight to her room so she drop into the kitchen for a midnight snack...would be just like Serena._

As much as I would have loved to peek upstairs and find out, this was no time for sightseeing. Of course, Sailor Moon did a lousy job hiding from me: I heard one of her wings knock every unfortunate glass and dinner plate off one table. "Sorry!" Sailor Moon shouted out an abrupt apology towards the dancers after. Again, the crowd just ignored her and kept slow dancing like they were totally deaf. _Definitely something fishy going down,_ but Sailor Moon acted like she didn't care. She planted her butt right into an empty seat at a table she hadn't knocked over yet and reached for a glass of red liquid abandoned on a serving tray.

"Sailor Moon!" I leaned over trying to snatch the cup from her hand, but her longer arm easily kept it out of my reach. "I don't think that's - "

"Relax! If Tuxedo Mask or anyone else you'd rather have around shows up, I'll just point them your way!" Sailor Moon raised the glass to her lips..."Dream me or real me, sitting and sipping juice are two things I'm still good at!" _I knew that wasn't juice, and sure enough, she spat it right back out._ "UGH! That's WAY too sour to still be juice!"

"Please come with me, Sailor Moon!" I clung to her arm like I used to cling to Darien's to drag him away from her. "I'm sorry!"

Sailor Moonpried my fingers off. "If Helios needs help, you're the one he wants saving him."

"But I can't without you," I pleaded. "I'm the one who always needs help. I'm useless without you, or Tuxedo Mask, or anyone else."

"That's not true..." Sailor Moon's gentle tone came back.

"Yes, it is." I noticed Sailor Moon trying to smile, but she frowned again when my own face met hers. "Darien still loves you. You'll fix everything. You always do."

Sailor Moon's voice dropped to a whisper. "Not everything. Not this time, Rini."

Past her sad blue eyes, I saw an extra pair of figures slow dancing behind her. _They had drifted away_ _from everybody else_. One of them had skin as radiant as snow, flowing blonde hair and a pretty pink flower tucked _...where Mina wore her own ribbon. Whoever she was dancing with was hidden behind her billowy orange dress..._

"She looks just like..." I started to murmur. I caught a brief glimpse of the girl's face, pressed tightly into her dance partner's shoulder as if the world around them had just stopped. _She was beautiful, all right...but she didn't LOOK like Mina, at least I didn't think so._ Sailor Moon's eyes followed my own and her back stiffened when she noticed the same. _She didn't care so much about the girl dancing...now we could see her partner wasn't wearing a suit. He seemed to absorb all the light around him..._

"PHANTOM JUNIOR!" Sailor Moon reared her arm back with a spinning, glowing tiara-shaped disc in her hand. "Moon Tiara - "

"WAIT, SAILOR MOON!" _But I wasn't fast enough to stop her. Phantom Junior had already heard her, anyway..._

"MAGIC!" Sailor Moon's glowing disc of white energy spiraled towards Phantom Junior. At first, I was nervous her attack would cut through the girl dancing with him instead. But Sailor Moon's tiara sliced the side of Phantom Junior's head, causing half his face to dissipate a little. His dancing partner froze in place... _even partly-dissolved, she couldn't - or wouldn't - let him go._

"Are you alright?" Maybe I should have been more careful, but it was just instinct for me to check on her. I raised a gentle hand her way, but she flipped around unnaturally fast. Her hands looked delicate and gentle but were ice cold when her arms stretched out to choke me. _Like something Wiseman himself could do._

 _"YOUR BLOODLINE...CURSED TO FOREVER COME BETWEEN US."_ The blonde woman mouthed the words, but it was Phantom Junior's voice she spat from her lips. She might have shared Mina's blue eyes, but I found the same emptiness swirling in her irises that Phantom Junior's zombie warriors' had.

"Are you...some kind of monster imprisoned here by my mother?" Sailor Moon demanded. _She might be on to something...maybe he had some kind of grudge against us._ Sailor Moon looked around to the figures who stopped dancing a long time ago. Now they just stared blankly like more of Phantom Junior's pawns. The ballroom went pitch black, as if it just blended into the night sky around the fake Palace. But these 'people' were no zombies...through their suits and dresses - including Phantom Junior's dancing partner - they started GLOWING underneath. Blinding flashes overtook them until they became people-shaped figures of pure white energy. _The opposite of Phantom Junior_. Their glow illuminated my shadow, and Sailor Moon's on the invisible floor we were standing on.

 _"THIS DREAM WAS ALL YOU LEFT ME."_ Phantom Junior himself reappeared with black and violet orbs pulsing in his lightless hands. _"YOU WON'T WAKE ME!"_

Choking clouds of black smoke enveloped me and Sailor Moon when he closed his hands around the orbs. The smoke around us crackled and sparked, until electric-like surges shocked our bodies and made us both scream. _I hadn't felt anything like this since Wiseman tortured me when I was little._

"SILVER MOON...CRYSTAL POWER KISS!" Sailor Moon cleared that terrible smog away with a gust of wind, her rod lifted over her head, but the violet rays of light didn't even touch the people-shaped light figures clustered around us. Sailor Moon fell to her knees exhausted again...except this time, her uniform, boots and rod flashed many colors. _She was losing her power: I saw that happen before, when she kept changing back to Super Sailor Moon because she wasn't strong enough to keep her Eternal form._ _Was Phantom Junior draining her somehow? Or was she becoming weaker after losing strength because Darien and the others doubted her?_

I heard the wisp of smoke following Phantom Junior's sudden appearance behind me. I jumped out of the way when his shadow-wrapped arm reached forward, but he hadn't been aiming for me. He threw some kind of knife-shaped magic object at my shadow. My skin didn't bruise, but my nerves stung as if he had really cut me.

"MINI MOON!" Sailor Moon recovered enough to charge Phantom Junior with her rod in the air...but just before she was about to whack him with it, the balcony of the Moon Palace flashed over the empty space again. For a brief instant, Serena wasn't wearing her Scout uniform...she was wearing her white gown with the golden trim, like what she wore as Princess Serenity. And even though Phantom Junior was partly hidden behind her, the darkness that obscured him before gave way to robes of gray and black _._ Underneath his hood, even though his eyes were still covered, I could see a nose and a mouth. _Even the shade of his skin...he had a gentle tan, just like Plu._

Sailor Moon must have gotten a better peek under the hood than I did: she gasped with her rod frozen in mid-air, and refrained from striking him. "Have we...met before?"

The other figures of light surrounding us, once intent on watching from the sidelines, started murmuring: " _THIS IS NOT YOUR DREAM...THIS IS NOT YOUR DREAM..."_ Those words sent Phantom Junior, camouflaged in lightlessness again, into a fit. Eye-like black holes tore through the light forms' faces and they stopped chanting. _He was controlling them, just like the rest of his warriors._

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" Phantom Junior then grabbed Sailor Moon by the wrist and sent my guardian flying backwards with a surge of dark energy.

"SAILOR MOON!" With Phantom's eyes locked on me, I reached for my Crystal Chime again, but then I remembered the flash from his past I saw earlier. "Was that your father? In the memory I saw?"

 _It was so eerie not to be able to see his face._ He stood in place, thinking about what I asked. _At least, I hoped he wasn't just drawing it out._ But Phantom Junior finally answered me... _"NOT MINE. ONLY AN ECHO...OF THE ONE SHE MADE ME TO BE..."_

"Who's "she?"" _Someone else put him up to this?_ Before I could ask him more, Phantom Junior winced again like somebody tugged the invisible puppet strings sewn to his back. Then orbs of white light started glowing where his eyes should have been. I looked back to Sailor Moon: she was trying to push herself up but kept falling back on her face, still shuddering from Phantom Junior's last attack. _Whatever sent Phantom Junior after us, only Pegasus could help us now._ I took the heart-shaped handle of my bell again and closed my eyes. _You're nearby, Pegasus. I can feel it...you sensed me calling out to you and guided us here. Help us, Pegasus...help us bring you home._ "Crystal Twinkle Bell!"

 _"I DON'T THINK SO!"_ It wasn't Phantom Junior's voice that broke into my thoughts this time. _A woman was speaking, and her voice came through as a loud shriek._ Another image flashed before my eyes... _a winged horse that looked just like my Pegasus, except he was covered in shadow just like Phantom Junior and shared his glowing eyes_ _. This couldn't be Pegasus...SHE COULDN'T HAVE HIM TOO!_ I felt my own ankles and wrists wrapped by invisible chains, just like his legs. I felt his pain as if it were mine too: the same intense surges that coursed through him also coursed through me, leaving both of us screeching in agony. I collapsed to the invisible floor and my brooch started flashing pink, just like Sailor Moon's outfit had flashed different colors earlier. Soon the rest of my uniform started doing the same...

"How are you...draining us?!" Sailor Moon cried. I turned on my side and found the Crystal Chime. It had slipped from my hands before, and now it was also glowing...

 _"Nothing you didn't start on your own, Sailor Moon!"_ Her taunts came from inside our own minds. _"Misplaced a few pals? No weirdo in a tuxedo swooping to your rescue this time?"_

"Sailor Moon...don't listen..." I begged her weakly. _Who was taunting us?_ I dragged myself towards the Crystal Chime on my stomach, but my own body grew as cold as those I touched earlier. My Chime's glow faded to a dull pink color, with sparkles flying from it faster and faster...until it slowly changed shape and returned to its original form. _The Mini Heart Moon Wand that I first brought with me from Crystal Tokyo when I started training with the others._

"Sailor...Moon..." I already felt my once clear and wing-like shoulder pads holding my arms more tightly. _My uniform was changing back too...and I crawled over to find the same thing happening to Sailor Moon._ Her feathered wings just fizzled away beneath a multicolored shine of energy. Her yellow, red and blue skirt reemerged as her plain blue one, and her long red ribbons shrank from her backside. Sailor Moon's scuffed white boots faded back into red ones like before, and her big puffy pink shoulders shrank just like mine did. _She didn't revert back to Super Sailor Moon...we both lost Pegasus' power completely. I couldn't feel the warm glow of his energy any more. Was that him...being tortured? He wouldn't just leave us like this..._

Sailor Moon and I both shuddered when we saw a faint glow illuminate another figure, crisscrossing her legs with each step forward. _I thought it might be one of the Sailor Scouts at first, but the pale skin - even more pale than the others - her unkempt black hair whipping around the windless space, and her unsettling orange eyes gave away she wasn't anyone we knew._ The smirk she gave us cleared away any doubt she was no friend of ours. Sailor Moon reached for where her Eternal Rod had once been. _Like my Crystal Chime, it had changed back into the pink scepter she used for Moon Spiral Heart Attack way back when._ A dirtied knee-high boot swung out to kick Sailor Moon's scepter outside her grasp.

"I'll let you pick up YOUR wand if it makes you feel better." _It was her, the one with the same snickering voice who got inside our heads before_... _maybe the one controlling Phantom Junior_. I looked up at a black skirt with tears at the edges. The mystery woman leaned down enough for me to also see her dirty and ripped white leotard, her faded black ribbon, and the same-style face mask Sailor V used to wear that covered the space around her mocking eyes. Phantom Junior and his - _or rather, her -_ light minions all stood there locked in place like statues.

"Who...are you?" I tried to push myself up on my elbows, but stepped on my back to press me into the ground.

"Let's just say I'm not a fan," she snickered, using one of my very own lines."Just dropped by to level out the playing field. Maybe I'm that little voice in your head here to remind you that you're STILL a royal pain in the neck. Or maybe I'm real enough, and my dream is to keep both of you face-first in the dirt..."

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Poor dream phantom, huh? He gives Rini a hug, shows her a few magic tricks, only for rude Miss Moon to interrupt his dance with his misses? :P I'll admit, I started SoSM (my first story) with Sailor Moon and Mini Moon downgraded purely for personal preference. I wasn't a fan of Sailor Moon's Eternal outfit, Moon Spiral Heart Attack was my favorite, and I wanted some Pink Sugar Heart Attack humor. Two characters mentioned earlier weren't present in the first half of SoSM because I was just getting back into the show. I wasn't sure about the Outer Scouts making an appearance, let alone other characters who came and went in the show. Thankfully, as I got further into SoSM, explaining all the changes came to me, along with the reasons to bring them back to the story. One reason I started writing The Shadows Beckon was it offered a chance to "retcon" my earlier choices. And I have to admit, while I'm still not a fan of how Eternal Sailor Moon's outfit looks...I had some fun with it this chapter.

Definitely a twist at the end - and another surprise cameo - I hadn't planned on. Of course, I originally planned Rini's story as a one-shot, and I wasn't sure about writing it in first person until shortly after I got serious about writing it. That's part of the fun - sometimes, seeing things play out is as much of a mystery for me as it is for you!

In a way, this chapter reminded me that (as long as they're written well and don't feel shoehorned in), you kind of need OCs to spice up your story when you're writing for a show that's had a good run, like I felt the original anime did. Sailor Stars ending was definitely dissatisfying for me now that I've seen it, plus I don't like how the anime just wrote off Rini and Helios (one of my biggest reasons for writing this)! But I'll admit, I was worried this chapter might have a "been there, done that" feel. Don't be scared if you've got criticism...of course, if you think I'm just being a worrywart, it would be a relief to hear!

May be a while until the next update, taking my job hunt into the Big Apple next week and quite nervous about it :/ but knowing people are still reading makes all the free time I sink into this story worth it :) Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you soon!


	5. Left at the Gate of Dreams

**Chapter 5: Left at the Gate of Dreams**

* * *

(Chapter Revised: 6/2/2016)

* * *

 _Who was this snarling banshee hovering over me and Sailor Moon, dressed like one of us?_ Her gloating orange eyes still peeked at me behind that mask of hers. _I thought she might be like those evil Sailor Scouts who worked for Galaxia against their will, like Darien mentioned before I went to sleep. But he said Galaxia used golden bracelets to control them, and I didn't see Miss Dress-Up wearing one over either of her tattered gloves. The lighting could have been better from where I was lying, but her Scout uniform looked like she fished it out of some dusty old chest. Maybe she wasn't really one of us...if any of this was really happening at all. But what about what she just said: that her dream was to keep both of us face-first in the dirt?_

"A dream where you wish for bad things to happen to somebody isn't a beautiful dream!" I propped myself on both elbows to yell up at the phony Scout. "Just what do you have against us?"

She leaned in just to be sure I could see her rolling her eyes at me. "My beauty pageant days came and went anyway. Find someone else to dote on you, Princess. I'm not here to play twenty questions." Across from me, Sailor Moon stumbled again for her pink scepter, which the fake _Pseudo Scout_ kicked away from her earlier. Pseudo Scout lunged forward herself and stepped down HARD on Sailor Moon's hand with reflexes that rivaled ours. I couldn't help wincing for Serena when she cried out screaming... _I couldn't blame her this time_. "Nuh-uh! I didn't say you could have yours!" Pseudo Scout taunted her.

 _"PRINCESS..." _ Death Phantom Junior's voice echoed through my mind again like a strained whisper, even as all the other people-shaped light figures stood completely still around him. _Even though I still wasn't sure whether this was all just a dream, Phantom Junior was acting like he really DID know Serena from somewhere...the way he was leaning towards her now, as if invisible puppet strings were holding him back._

Whatever was going on with him, Pseudo Scout sure didn't look happy about it. After ruffling her torn skirt, fumbling around for something, she raised her arm and shined a light on Phantom Junior. _Her fingers slightly clenched over the golden orb in her hand._ Phantom Junior completely froze, and white orbs shined where his eyes should have been. _They didn't illuminate the rest of him like before...he was still completely featureless, like a black hole_.

"Some vivid memories you've got there, huh?"Pseudo Scout looked around to her light figures as she spoke. _She was controlling Phantom Junior, or at least she tried to. The same way that he controlled the others earlier._

 _"You...planted...them..." _ Phantom Junior's voice strained while his limbs jerked around, like a corpse coming back to life in some creepy movie. And the people-shaped light figures imitated him.

 _Phantom Junior..._ _I just didn't understand what was going on with him before...sending a flock of zombies and their furs to chase me around one moment, letting Serena go, then getting angry at us again for interrupting his dance. But now I saw he was just as confused as I was. And he was suffering. If I could free him somehow, maybe he could help me find Pegasus!_ Across from me, Sailor Moon's eyes darted to my pink Moon Stick, my former Crystal Chime, lying on the ground in front of me. _I'd still have to make a run for it...but unlike with Serena, Pseudo Scout hadn't even bothered trying to keep my wand away from me. Like she didn't take me seriously either...  
_  
Sailor Moon whispered a hiss to get my attention. Pseudo Scout was shaking the light in her hand as if she was trying to make a can of soda explode, like Sammy enjoyed doing doing at picnics. Charon's eyes, and the light figures around him, started fading in and out as if they were in some kind of time warp. "Piece of junk, I'd get more mileage from an old smartphone!" Pseudo Scout complained.

 _That settled it: I was gonna make a run for my Mini Heart Moon Wand. Yeah, I remember feeling like it wasn't much better than a toy, but it was better than taking her on with my fists, I guess._ Pseudo Scout flipped around just after I dove for my wand and rose to my feet with it raised in the air. _Please work, please work, please work!_ "Pink Sugar - "

I froze when Pseudo Scout vanished out of thin air, giving Sailor Moon a chance to make a break for her own downgraded rod, before I remembered that Phantom Junior had done the same thing earlier. _Not sure how Pseudo Scout shared that power with him,_ but I was ready when she popped behind me with her arm raised, like she planned on choking me. I swung out of the way though I kind of lost my balance mid-attack, so I just went with it and spun around with my wand still lifted in the air.

"Heart...ATTACK!" I froze with the heart-shaped crystal aimed at Pseudo Scout's chest, but after flashing for a few seconds, a steady stream of energy pulses shaped like hearts - accompanied by what Mina called 'catchy music' before - pushed Pseudo Scout away from me.

"OWWW! That actually hurts!" I couldn't help smirking: _she'd been so smug just a few seconds ago_. Now she was cringing and wincing, wrapping her arms over her chest like my attack was really hurting her. "The leotard does nothing!"

"So you're not one of us after all, you cheap knock-off phony-baloney imaginary Pseudo Scout!" _That name really seemed to make her mad_.. She opened her eyes to glare and grit her teeth at me, even as heart after heart kept striking her.

"GGGRRR you just said you weren't copying me!" Sailor Moon popped out from over Pseudo Scout's shoulder to wave her fist at me, but hid back behind her when Pseudo Scout noticed the clumsy oaf. "I mean - YOINK!"

"Oh, you did not just..." Pseudo Scout's jaw fell after Sailor Moon snatched the unsteady light from her unsuspecting fingers. Her shabby Scout outfit also started flashing, and I saw loose magic ribbons - like the ones that made up our uniforms - trail behind her as she chased after Sailor Moon. "GIVE THAT BACK!"

* * *

I ran after Pseudo Scout until I saw cracks of light pierce through the dark empty space that replaced Phantom Junior's dream of the Moon Palace. He and the other people-shaped light figures started fizzling out of existence behind me, then they just disappeared...and the ground under me suddenly became very soft. I was distracted when I looked down at my feet, only to see my skirt was fully pink again and my belt was gone. _Another reminder I lost Pegasus' power..._ when I should have been more worried about the fact I was now knee-deep in a pile of dark-brown mud...

"WWWAAAHHH!" I yelped out loud. _Please don't be quicksand!_ I gulped before I lifted my knee, but my first wail was quickly followed by a relieved sigh as I lifted each boot out of the muck no problem. _At least we were back to having a nice blue sky overhead with puffy, marshmallow-like clouds._ There was no sign of Pseudo Scout, Phantom Junior, or any of their light monster-thingies anywhere, but I noticed Sailor Moon also waddling through the chocolate-colored swamp just ahead of me.

"SAILOR MOON!" She jumped when I called out and started wading over to her. "Where are we?"

"I'm...not quite sure how I got us here." Sailor Moon kept her hand closed over the dimming light she took from Pseudo Scout. My eyes drifted over to Moon's stomach when it started grumbling...but the thunder of an erupting volcano behind us d completely drowned out that noise.

"We're gonna get turned into s'mores if we don't find Pegasus and hightail it!" I panicked.

"Hang on a sec..." Sailor Moon wasn't spooked by the thought of swimming in molten lava at all. She reached down, poked a finger in the mud...and put it in her mouth.

"EWWW! SERENA!" I blurt out as she suckled on her gloved finger.

"RELAX! It's just chocolate ice cream!" Sailor Moon celebrated and scooped up a big handful this time.

"I should have guessed this would be YOUR dream..." I sighed. _At least I remembered not to take it any further, since Sailor Moon was still really sensitive._ _Besides, I wouldn't complain about standing in the middle of a chocolate swamp at any other time!_ With no enemies around - or anybody else to watch, I scooped up a handful of ice cream for myself. _Luna would have ragged on us for looking like we just crawled out of a pigsty._

"If Luna's been holding out on me, I might borrow Mina's hamper treatment!" Sailor Moon threatened with Pseudo Scout's dim light still clenched tightly in her fist.

"Let me see!" I squealed. Sailor Moon did open up her hand and showed me a weathered, cracked mirror. _It didn't look impressive..._ but I started doubting my eyes again when I pulled Serena's hand in for a closer look. _It seemed to get blurrier...like the mirror-girl who I saw Phantom Junior dancing with earlier._ And my peek was cut short when a slight cracking noise warned me that Pseudo Scout just flashed into existence right on top of us. I shoved Sailor Moon's hand out of the way just before Pseudo Scout could take her mirror back from her.

"I've gotta hand it to you kid...you're an even bigger pest than I thought." I nearly tripped backwards into the choco-sludge when she gave me a wide grin with her rotten chompers, like she'd been chowing down here every day before we showed up. "Not as useless as daddy-o, at least. You sure you're related?"

Sailor Moon waved her Spiral Heart Moon Scepter at Pseudo Scout. "I'm not useless either, you...Soggy Scout!"

Pseudo Scout stared at Moon with a raised eyebrow. "Usagi Scout?"

"Ehehehe..." Sailor Moon looked down at me with an awkward grin. "What did you call her, again?"

"I DON'T CARE!" Pseudo Scout growled and then we heard more swooshes behind us, followed by the sound of many feet sinking into chocolate ice cream. I was hoping we wouldn't see Pseudo Scout's light creatures or Death Phantom Junior - _at least until we understood why he was attacking us -_ while Sailor Moon was holding the mirror, but I guess we couldn't be that lucky...

"YOU'RE FINALLY HERE! NOW QUIT STANDING AROUND AND DO SOMETHING!" Pseudo Scout screamed back at Phantom Junior and her light buddies...but she also noticed that they weren't glowing anymore. _Her light figures had turned a chocolate brown color...because Sailor Moon holding the mirror had changed them into solid chocolate._ Phantom Junior's head darted around as if he was confused... _wondering what happened or why he hadn't been turned into candy too._

 _"I...he...loved chocolate..." _ Phantom Junior's voice mumbled. _If the original Phantom Junior wasn't as scary and loved sweets as much as I did, we might have been friends._

"If that's true, why not help yourself to dessert?" Sailor Moon clasped her hands together and licked her lips. _I had the same idea, but I felt a little weird about eating them after they tried to eat me. Serena was bold for suggesting Phantom Junior help us out, though._

"Oh no, you've embarrassed me enough times today!" Pseudo Scout screeched and lurched forward with magic ribbons still trailing from her unraveling uniform. "GIVE IT BACK!"

"Go deep, Mini Moon!" Sailor Moon tossed the battered mirror to me with an underhand throw. I slid through chocolate sludge to catch it, muddying up my uniform even more, and Pseudo Scout was there glaring over me when I lifted my head.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon called out. _It was a good thing I didn't lie there waiting for her frisbee to hit._ By the time I got around Pseudo Scout, Sailor Moon was just standing there looking blankly at her empty hand. By the time Sailor Moon realized she goofed, another orb of light blinked in Pseudo Scout's fist, except this one was dark purple and black. She threw the orb at Sailor Moon like an early twenty-first century grenade, sending molten chunks of burned chocolate flying away from the ground in front of my guardian.

"SAILOR MOON!" I cried out to her when Phantom Junior suddenly whizzed past me. I couldn't tell whether he just missed me because I leaned away at the last second, or if he hadn't been going for me...but he rammed into Pseudo Scout instead. He left a trail of dark smoke behind him as he dragged her far away from us.

"Sorry squirt..." Sailor Moon sat up in the middle of scorched ice cream. _At least I could breath again knowing she was OK, just a few nicks and scrapes._ "Now I've gotta reach up for my tiara and actually throw it again!"

"Wow, Serena..." _Complaining about THAT at a time like this?!_ "You can't be THAT lazy!"

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ATTACK ME, DERP PHANTOM JUNIOR!" I could see Pseudo Scout shoving Phantom Junior off her from a mile away. _At least he gave us a chance to get ahead of her!_  
  
" _He said...the Princess..." Oh no, who could Phantom Junior be talking about now?_

"FORGET THE OLD COOT, I'M YOUR BOSS!" Pseudo Scout cut Phantom Junior's pained answer short. _Someone from his past, maybe?_ Sailor Moon hissed for me to keep moving away from Pseudo Scout's grasp. _I didn't want Serena staying behind so I could get away..._ but Pseudo Scout's gaze was locked on me even from all the way back there. _She was determined to get her mirror back, no matter what. But I was more determined to get Helios back, and this mirror was the key somehow._

I slogged through the marsh of chocolate ice cream using my arms to help push me forward, but dragging my feet through all that really tired me out. _If only Serena had imagined a solid chocolate floor instead._ With Pseudo Scout closing the distance, and Sailor Moon and Phantom Junior both trailing behind - _fighting or not, I couldn't tell -_ I looked around desperately for a way to pick up the pace. I came across the chocolate-colored 'lava' stream that erupted from the volcano earlier... _the 'volcano' looked like it was made of graham crackers, now that I was closer, and the lava stream was just hot fudge._ I found something red and solid-looking poking out from under the fudge like a lily pad. _A non-chocolate or coated piece of candy, maybe?_

I took my chances and hopped on the out-of-place candy piece, but it shook uncontrollably the second I touched it. I noticed Pseudo Scout brace her mask with a pair of fingers as if she worried about if flying off, right before I was almost tossed into the hot fudge river. _The 'candy' I was standing on just decided to stand up by itself. And it wasn't just one piece of candy..._ it looked more like a giant shell attached to several bigger pieces. Then a massive pair of Godzilla-like red pincers flew out to its sides and dumped hot fudge all over anyone standing below. Clinging on for dear life, I felt nauseous when the smell of chocolate mixed with something that didn't go well with dessert wrinkled my nose. _Seafood..._

"A LOBSTER?!" I squealed while the over-sized entrée tried to shake me off. "WHY IS THERE A LOBSTER IN YOUR CHOCOLATE DREAM?!"

"OH, UH...LOBSTER NIGHT IN THE DINING HALL, I GUESS?!" Sailor Moon was down there shrugging 'I don't know'. Even Pseudo Scout backed away to avoid the lobster thrashing around with me on its back.

"SO UN-DREAM IT! PLEASE!" While one big lobster was at least keeping Pseudo Scout away, now I had to worry about the other humongous lobster rising out of the fudge to to help his buddy scratch me off.

"JUST TOSS ME THE MIRROR AND THEY'LL GO AWAY!" Pseudo Scout snickered. _As if!_ The shudder from the second lobster slamming his claw into his pal's back, barely missing me, was enough to make me reconsider her offer for a second.

"HOW'D YOU GET US TO THE MOON PALACE THE FIRST TIME?!" Sailor Moon called up to me, though coming closer got her into a tussle with Pseudo Scout. _Serena was right. I got us out of the coliseum, and Pseudo Scout's mirror was in my hands now. This had to work..._ I squeezed the mirror as tightly as I could and tried to picture Pegasus in my mind. My heart sank when the image of him bound and shadowy like Phantom Junior slipped into my mind, but instead of thinking about the horrible things that might be happening to him, I reminded I was here to help him out of whatever trouble he was in. _I needed to make sure he was safe_. I lost my grip on the lobster shell, and felt myself tumbling into the hot fudge below - I heard Serena cry out 'Mini Moon!' - but I kept my eyes closed and kept wishing as hard as I could...

* * *

I didn't land in that river of hot fudge, though I caught myself wishing I had when my back tumbled against a harder surface. _Oh well, I couldn't complain too much...it felt like I was back outdoors, lying on top of grass._ The lush greens of the Crystal Forest welcomed my open eyes. _I did it! I got us back here..._ at least, I thought so, until I saw the Crystal Palace's spires reaching over the treeline _. No sign of the rest of the city around it...why would I imagine it all wrong?_ There was no sign any of the others, Serena or the bad guys, had landed here with me. But then I heard a familiar, pained groan...

"HELIOS?!" I cried out his name without thinking and sprinted through the forest in the direction of his voice. Past the trees, I could see the dim shine of his golden horn. _It was as faint as the light from Pseudo Scout's mirror_... _but there was no mistaking it was his._ Helios' outline was there waiting for me...he had been strung upside down in a tangle of webs, just like the first time I met him in person. _And just like that very first time, I was blushing again_. "I'll get you down from there, Helios. And I'll make sure you get home. We can go together, this time..."

"MY TURN!" A cruelly-timed swoosh sent me flying into one of the trees and back on the ground. My head was still spinning when Pseudo Scouts' crude grip wrenched my fingers apart to snatch her mirror back. Tears flowed down the sides of my face as the forest disappeared under a blanket of darkness, taking Helios with it. He was replaced by long and unpolished silver bars locking away an empty jail. _Were cold, empty places of torture_ _all this mean witch really wanted?_ Pseudo Scout planted her boot into my stomach... _she was taking me more seriously this time._ I grabbed the edges of Pseudo Scout's boots and tried to pry her off, but I just succeeded at making her laugh. Then I heard Sailor Moon wailing, and saw a pair of light figures drag her along the unpolished marble floor to throw her into a cell right next to the one in front of me.

"Real Scouts always triumph over phony show-boating Sumo Scouts!" Sailor Moon grasped her bars and shouted to Pseudo Scout from inside her cell.

No more loose magic ribbons streamed away from Pseudo Scout's uniform as she shifted in Sailor Moon's direction, though it was still as dirty and ragged as the first time she appeared. "First you call me a phony, then you call me a fatso? Don't expect time off for good behavior, Sailor Moon!"

"She's PSEUDO Scout, Sailor Moon!" I groaned.

"Oh..." I had to croon my neck to see Sailor Moon nod her head behind the bars...with a blank look on her face. "What does "pseudo" mean?"

"And you're in university..." I slammed the back of my head into the hard floor. _I already missed lying on the grass...and the chocolate ice cream swamp._ "Keep us here all you want, whoever-you-are! Just let Helios go, please! He's been tortured away from home for so long! He hasn't done anything to you!"

"I, errr...I actually have a thing to get to in the morning!" Sailor Moon blurted out. "But she's right, locking him in the slammer right after the Queen of the Dark Moon did is just cruel!"

"Wait a sec...how long do you think I've been keeping the horn-headed weirdo?" _Pseudo Scout_ _was staring back at Phantom Junior while she asked, as if she expected him to answer_. "I literally just nabbed him trespassing!"

"You're lying!" I tried to sit up, but Pseudo Scout's foot shoved me back to the ground with more of her weight behind it. "He's been gone four years! He promised he would come back and visit me! I knew only an evil force could stop him!"

Pseudo Scout made a noise to mimic throwing up in her mouth. "You think I'm just here playing the villain role in your tween-queen vampire romance fantasy?! Face it, Jailbait...he stood you up!"

"Helios would never stand me up! AND I'm not a vampire!" _And what's jailbait?_ Although Pseudo Scout's foot was still pinning me down, I could see Phantom Junior watching over her shoulder. "I know you didn't really want to attack us! She's controlling you with the mirror, but you can fight it!"

"Moonie lived out your little fantasy, "Phantom Junior."" Another flash of light from Pseudo Scout's mirror covered the old prison and brought us back to the Moon Palace ballroom. Her light figures were still completely still, but they were dressed up in tuxedos and gowns again. "She could have shared with you if she wanted you to, but she just regarded you as another plaything. Just like her hubby...and just like Jailbait's dream keeper. Remember that part?"  
  
 _"Only fragments...of another life..." _ Phantom Junior's voice echoed was if he was straining to talk, before the light from Pseudo Scout's mirror flashed again. Phantom Junior wasn't affected, but her other light figures were also flicking on and off. Silver Millennium faded back into the dim old prison... _but the walls and floors...as bleak as they were, the prison looked like it could have been part of the Moon Palace. There were crescent moons scattered throughout the walls. But the Moon Palace didn't have a dungeon...and Silver Millennium didn't have any prisons! At least, nobody said they did._

"You sure that mirror isn't solar-powered? Might help if you dreamed about less gloomy things!" Sailor Moon teased Pseudo Scout while she was getting frustrated with her compact. _That reminded me about something Artemis told me about Sailor V...Mina used to have an old compact that she had to recharge often, by letting it collect moonlight on her windowsill. If Pseudo Scout found a compact like that somewhere, she must have burned through a lot of juice to put on this show. Maybe she needed Death Phantom Junior to substitute for her...but she was having trouble keeping him convinced.  
_  
"My friend Helios, the person she's holding here...he's the protector of dreams!" I pleaded with Phantom Junior. "Maybe he can find a way to help you!" Phantom Junior tightened the lightless fists by his side. _I felt the aura around him darkening. I made him angrier..._

"Familiar words, "Phantom Junior?"" Pseudo Scout snickered, like she was mocking him with the name I came up with. "Not the first time a royal swine's promised you something!"

 _Was there any possibility left that this was just a dream? It seemed like a lot for me to just make up inside my head...Phantom Junior knowing Princess Serenity, and Pseudo Scout hating us so much._

 _"My name..." _ Phantom Junior looked away from me to Sailor Moon's prison cell. She was staring back at him like a deer caught in headlights. _"You know."_

"Yeah, show "Phantom Junior" the fabled selfless Sailor Moon who isn't totally stuck up!" mocked Pseudo Scout. _She was counting on Serena not remembering.._. _and Serena was still a space case._ "You saw his face! Tell us his real name!"

"I...my memories of the past, of Silver Millennium. They're still blurry..." Sailor Moon tried to calm him, but I felt Phantom Junior's temper burning the longer she pondered. "You felt familiar..."

 _"I thought of her last...and of you, PRINCESS. BUT YOU FORGOT ME." _ Phantom Junior clenched his fist, giving a silent order for a pair of light monsters to teleport into Sailor Moon's cell and hold her by the arms. They disintegrated into static and electrocuted her, leaving her screaming out loud. _Poor Serena._

My eyes darted around the room for Tuxedo Mask, any of the other Sailor Scouts, ANYBODY just waiting for the right time to help us. But although I didn't find anyone else hiding in this medieval lock-up, I noticed one of the light figures was still a shade of orange. _Phantom Junior had to listen to me. I had to remind him where he really wanted to be:_ "Your dream is to find someone you lost. Just like me. Pseudo Scout wants us to give up...BUT I WON'T GIVE UP! AND YOU SHOULDN'T EITHER!"

"That's enough babbling, pipsqueak!" Pseudo Scout moved her foot over my chest and pressed down even harder than before. She punished every breath I took with her weight. I desperately clawed against her ankle to pull her off, but she wouldn't budge.

 _"Too late...for me..." _ Phantom Junior's words came out more quietly than before. _At least he had heard me...though that wouldn't mean anything if Pseudo Scout crushed me_. Sailor Moon cringed when Phantom Junior raised his arm towards her again...but the light monsters that had been torturing her teleported back in front of the bars and slid them open for her.

"Why did you open her cell?!" Pseudo Scout shrieked. Half of her light figures' eyes turned dark as night before they transformed into comets of light and collided into those that stayed the same. Pseudo's prison flashed in and out around us, even as it kicked up dust and pieces of rock where her light forms threw each other.  
 _  
"Another memory...returns to me..." _ Phantom Junior himself lunged forward and knocked Pseudo Scout off me with a black and purple-tinged blast, giving me a chance to breathe. _"I was YOUR master!"_

Sailor Moon scrambled to my side while I sat up gasping for air and clutching my throat. I saw Phantom Junior reach for Pseudo's mirror, but she grabbed him by the neck with static pulsing through her fingers, then she tossed him aside like a doll. Another pair of lights blinked in behind Pseudo Scout and struck her like a pair of meteors, staggering her before she could come at me or Moon. In that moment, I wasn't sure whether to help Phantom Junior, or if he was distracting his former warden so I could find Helios. _If I helped Phantom Junior, he might turn on us just like before..._

"Now's not the time for standing around, come on!" Sailor Moon urged me forward with her Heart Moon Scepter in hand. _She was right. Whether or not Phantom Junior was a real person, I couldn't just leave him with his tormentor, even after what he almost did to us. I knew why he was helping me...what he meant when he said it was too late for HIM._

Holding Phantom Junior in her crushing grip, Pseudo Scout was too distracted to hear my wand play its warning music until I had already called out "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" My hearts annoyed her long enough to give Phantom Junior a chance to retreat in a wisp of black smoke. Sailor Moon tried her hand at grabbing Pseudo Scout's mirror, but she fought my attack off in time to land a spinning kick into Sailor Moon's stomach. _But even if Serena had grabbed her mirror, Pseudo Scout had learned her lesson: her fingers were surging with some kind of magic that created static around it._

"How do we take it off her now?" I asked out loud as I heard Phantom Junior reforming beside me. There were still flickers of light figures going at it with each other, behind the scenes of the fizzling prison.

 _"Don't take..." _ Phantom Junior's voice echoed. I flinched away from him, fearing he had switched sides again, but he stood his ground beside me. _He didn't mean that as a threat_. _"Shatter it. Release my memory...and the dream-keepr will be waiting."_

Phantom Junior rocketed forward and tackled Pseudo Scout away from Sailor Moon, giving me a chance to rejoin my fellow Scout. "I hope you remember how to use that Wand, Sailor Moon," I sighed.

Sailor Moon rolled her eyes at me in mimicry of Pseudo Scout. _And she acted like I was the only one who ever copied_. Sailor Moon raised her Spiral Moon Heart Wand and spun it around so fast, I expected it to fly out of her hands. But somehow, she managed to hold on to her wand long enough to strike her pose, then again as she spun around holding it up. "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" Sailor Moon sent a blast of hearts Pseudo Scout's way, but she called on several light figures at the last moment. They formed a wall when Sailor Moon's hearts combined into one ginormous pink heart and it shattered them instead.

"You turned out to be a real fluke, "Phantom Junior."" Pseudo Scout shoved him away with another up-close, dark magic blast. _She might have been weaker, but she was still a match for all three of us_. "Just wait until we throw the real you at the real Scouts, memories and all!"

 _"It's true, then..." _ Phantom Junior stretched out the fingers of one shadowy hand in the direction of Sailor Moon's brooch. I clutched my wand, nearly raising it at him, but he stayed in place. _Again, I almost overreacted...h_ _e wasn't gonna snatch it from her. "You also died, Princess...but it's really you...and you found your Prince again..."_ _  
_  
Pseudo Scout thought she could get the jump on us, vanishing out of thin air and reappearing above Phantom Junior in the middle of his daze, but he caught the phony Scout in mid-air and tossed HER aside like a doll this time. Sailor Moon bent her knees, getting ready to vault. "Are you ready, Mini Moon?"

"Yes!" I cheered. But just when the pair of us were about to launch our Double Moon Kick at Pseudo Scout while she was still far away from us, a slow but loud ringing noise interrupted us. Sailor Moon herself started fizzling out, just like the rest of this illusion of a prison. _But Sailor Moon's flashing also reminded me of when_ _Nehelenia almost wiped me off the timeline._

"SERENA?!" I started panicking again at the threat of losing her. _That noise...it_ _sounded like an alarm clock, ringing very very slowly._

"Looks like you'll have to finish without me, kiddo." _Sailor Moon...always trying to keep my spirits up._ "You'll get Helios back, I know..."

"NO! SAILOR MOON!" I tried closing my arms around her, as if my embrace would keep her from disappearing, but I was left coddling thin air instead. "DON'T LEAVE ME!"

"Ah well, she would have eaten through all my dream rations anyway!" Pseudo Scout mocked. _She STILL didn't think I was much of a threat to her._ Well, maybe she took me a LITTLE more seriously...I saw the tip of a big purple crystal rise over Pseudo Scout's arm in mid-air, with its tip pointed at me. But just like Pseudo Scout had done herself, a group of light figures - ones controlled by Phantom Junior - shielded me just when Pseudo Scout launched her projectile.

 _"If her power fades...your dream-keeper will fall from your reach." _ Phantom Junior warned me. The whole vision around us had become even more unfocused, as if an earthquake was bringing the ruined prison down. _"Destroy her mirror. Now."_  
 _  
_"There has to be another way!" I suggested, even if it wasn't the best time. "You can come with me! We can both see Helios!"

 _"The Crystal said...my love is alive...close to the Princess." I couldn't help feeling awful for him_. _"That is hope enough for me."_

 _Phantom Junior was right. Destroying that mirror was the only way to stop Pseudo Scout for good._ Just like I would have done with Sailor Moon, I ran forward and launched a Super Sailor Kick towards Pseudo Scout. She cackled and easily stepped out of my way, but Phantom Junior swirled around her as a cloud of black smoke. Caught of guard, Pseudo Scout coughed uncontrollably while his smog collected around her wrists and ankles, pinning her in place. She tried electrocuting him by channeling dark magic through his cloud, but Phantom Junior wouldn't dissipate this time. I flipped around and sprinted towards her... _she was using her power_ _to electrocute Phantom Junior, at the cost of dropping the barrier protecting her mirror_. Phantom Junior cleared out just when I jumped at her arm, leaving her no time to react before I ripped the mirror from her fingers again.

I lifted Pseudo Scout's open mirror towards the sky and yelled a wordless scream as I slammed it down towards the unsteady floor with all my strength. I heard Pseudo Scout's angry howl when the glass shattered into pieces. The ancient prison, the faintly glowing wisps of light... _Phantom Junior himself..._ cracked along the same lines as her open mirror. It was Pseudo Scout's turn to wail as her uniform disintegrated into ribbons that wrapped tightly around her body and pulled her into the now empty abyss below. All of her light figures shattered, and her mirror turned to dust. _And now, Phantom Junior was also turning into dust, the wind brushing him away before my eyes..._

 _"Your...name?" _ His voice had become a faint...and gentle...whisper.

"Rini. Just like Serenity." I tried to smile. _I thought I could see his lightless face wrinkle, as if he was smiling back at me, before the last of his ashes were blown away._ "I hope Pseudo Scout is wrong. I hope you got a second chance too." That was all I had time to say... _I just hope he heard me, wherever he was now_. _I hope you're alive, on Earth somewhere...and that you get a chance to fall in love all over again._

* * *

Free of Pseudo Scouts' prison, Earth's gentle breeze blew through my hair again. I walked underneath a weathered white arch and looked up to the gentle blue sky and white clouds floating lazily over me, like the ones in Serena's dream.

"Sailor Moon? Phantom Junior?" I called out their names, hoping their voices might surprise me... _but like I expected, there was no answer_. _The white walls and floor reminded me of the Moon Palace's open courtyard, but the arches were cracked and the floor was worn. These ruins looked more like the coliseum that I dropped into after Pegasus was separated from me...Amy would have loved to study this place. It was beautiful, but I was all alone here._ _Phantom Junior said Helios would be here after I shattered the mirror..._ "Where am I?!"

"Elysion, Rini." My heart stopped beating when Helios' voice answered me. "Prince Endymion...Darien was the last to visit. Since then, I have watched over it for him...and for you. Just as the Golden Kingdom flourished under his rule, I have no doubt it will continue with you sitting on the throne."

"I finally found you! HELIOS!" I almost tripped over myself darting back and forth, desperate to see where his voice was coming from. "I can't wait to see you! Where are you?"

"Here, Rini..." He chuckled gently. He passed beneath the arch with the same gentle smile I remembered him for. His white hair was still messy.. _I get the horn made combing difficult, but maybe he'd let me do it for me?_ _He was still taller than me, though not by much anymore. I wonder if he noticed._ I felt like I could gaze into his welcoming brown eyes forever, the same eyes that made me want to tell him everything. _Everything about him made waiting worth it...I felt as if he never left._

"Helios...my special friend. My..." _How could I find the right words to say hello again? As precious as calling him a 'friend' was for me...it didn't feel like enough this time._ I couldn't wait any longer...I ran into his arms and tilted my head away so my tears didn't stain his angelic tunic. "I missed you so much, Helios! How have you been? What have you been up to? Well, besides staying here, that is? How'd you run into Pseudo Scout? She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"Oh Rini...you always had so many questions for me," He answered ever so softly. _His tunic might have been cold to the touch, but his glow brought all the warmth I could ever need._ "You always came to me for advice and yet...you've always been stronger than me. You came to my rescue again. All on your own."

I shook my head and smiled back at him, even if mine could never compare to his. "I had lots of help along the way. Serena was here. And...Phantom Junior..." _After everything he did to get me here, naming him after the one who had tortured me felt completely wrong. He deserved better_ _._ "I wish I knew what his name was. Do you know, Helios?"

Helios' smile wavered as he shook his head 'no'. "So many lives ended that tragic day, when the Moon Kingdom fell and so many dreams were shattered...until Queen Serenity gave them a second chance at coming true. The one you call Phantom Junior...perhaps he was a valiant defender of the Moon serving under one of your friends? Whoever the pretender Scout was, she must have captured a fragment of his broken dream and used her mirror to bind it to one of her light creations. But someone with such vivid memories, such powerful dreams, can't be easily controlled. Taking a piece of my soul and turning him into her puppet, knowing his dream would never come true in her prison...it must have driven him mad."

"He acted like he knew Princess Serenity...maybe he was one of her protectors," I whispered. _But Pseudo Scout blamed Helios and Endymion for his suffering too. Maybe she was just lying to manipulate him...but why mention them if he was from the Moon?  
_  
"You and Sailor Moon brought his memory peace..." Helios placed his hand on my shoulder, making me all tingly inside. "If he was reborn with Princess Serenity and the others, his dream might still come true. We finally have a moment for ourselves. This moment...was long overdue..."

"You helped him too, Helios," I couldn't help adding. "You were with me every step of the way, even if I couldn't see you."

Helios cast his eyes down towards my solid pink skirt. _He must have wondered how I lost his special power._ "Darien...reminded me how important my duty is, how much I love beautiful and innocent dreamers everywhere...including you." _As if my face couldn't get any redder..._ "That is why, I came back to tell you...how sorry I am."

"This mess wasn't your fault, Helios." I felt my cheeks glowing red as I grabbed both of his hands and held them together in mine. "It brought us back together. It was hard for me to wake up every morning, not knowing whether I saw you in my dreams. But it made my feelings stronger."

"My dearest friend..." He reached past my arm and caressed my downgraded brooch with his fingers. "I left you waiting too long."

"But it wasn't your fault," I said. "At first, I thought maybe you couldn't visit me while I was in Crystal Tokyo. Now I know Pseudo Scout was the reason."

"No...I wasn't in her prison the whole time, Rini." Helios shook his head. "She was telling the truth about that. It was...my choice to stay in Elysion. I thought it would...be easier for you if I didn't come back. But my heart tells me the right thing...is to say goodbye properly this time."

"I...don't understand..." _But I did know what he was saying, and it was tying my stomach into_ _a knot. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing..._

Helios reached for one of my pointy buns. "I have to stay here, to maintain the beautiful dreams we saved. I realized that you didn't need me anymore...and you've proven it."

"Of course I need you!" My eyelids blinked faster and faster. _I didn't want him to see me become a crybaby again_."You...you're another dream Helios! The real one promised he would come back and we would share all our dreams!"

"I made you a promise I knew I could not keep, because I can't bear to see you cry." Helios reached forward, wiping a stray tear trickling down my cheek. "You were just a child - "

"Don't." I balled my hands into fists to keep myself from slapping his hand away. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"I hoped you might outgrow me and embrace your future, as the future Sailor Moon and successor to the throne...but I see I've been holding you back." His voice was still as calm as before. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, Rini."

"This isn't the first time you said you would leave." I felt myself shivering when Helios stepped back from me. "You always came back, and there's no reason I can't visit you!"

"You can't stay here with me, Rini..." Helios held my bare shoulders, but his hands were cold to me now. "My beautiful dream is that one day, you will wake up to someone like Prince Endymion every morning, in Crystal Tokyo. It's not fair to make you choose between your family in one century, your friends in another...and me, knowing that I can't give you the warmth or affection of either."

"I don't care!" I cried like I was five years old again, the same brat who landed on Serena's head. "I know you felt the same way I did! How could you just change your mind?!"

 _He still kept smiling, he still kept showing me affection, even after he just broke my heart_. "Your prince is out there somewhere. Maybe...you've already met him, and you just don't know it yet. But I can't be him, Rini."

I had nothing to grab a hold of when the sky turned pink, just like it did when I used my Time Key, and I was pulled upwards into the sky. "I promised I would never let you go!"

"I won't forget you. But...you have to let me go this time." Helios watched me, pinning his arms to the side, even as I reached for him. Hoping... _praying...he would change his mind and pull me back. But he didn't_. "Goodbye, my precious one..."

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Well...this was a hard chapter for me to write. May seem like an early end to the climax, but I never planned on Rini's story being a long one. I had seven chapters planned for the outline, and I've stuck with it more or less. And that ending...I have a feeling some of you will hate me for it, but if you read SoSM you knew it was coming, and if you didn't...I felt it was in keeping with The Shadows Beckons' theme. Disappointment is a part of growing up...we've seen all the Sailor Scouts face it, and now Rini's seen her fairytale romance unravel as Helios has grown apart from her.

I know I've felt and said this with pretty much every chapter but the first one, but I was worried about this chapter. I felt the expectations for Rini's dream world were big, and I've tried to make it feel like one the best I could. I saw The Shadows Beckons as a chance to show my creative side, but Sailor Moon was such a long-running show it's hard not to feel like I'm retreading some ground here. The actual dream sequence may have been shorter than I planned - not for word count, but I thought we might run one more chapter with Phantom Junior and "Pseudo Scout" - but I didn't want to pad the story with action. And besides...Rini's story isn't over yet.

The plan is to catch up with Rini next chapter, as she copes with Helios' rejection and struggles with her recollection of her dream. Will Pseudo Scout make good on her threat to unleash the "true" Death Phantom Junior, whatever his real name is, on the Sailor Scouts? Hopefully you'll stay with me. I hope you'll share how you felt...about Rini's dreamworld, about Rini and Helios' breakup, about Sailor Moon and Phantom Junior...I always look forward to hearing from you, good, bad and otherwise! Hope to hear from you soon, and thanks for reading!


	6. Pluto's Moon: The Forgotten Child

**Chapter 6 - Pluto's Moon: The Forgotten Child**

I woke up with tears streaming down the sides of my face and opened my eyes to the rays of light beaming down on me through the window. _Where was that light coming from? It was so dark in the sky above..._

 _"Goodbye, my precious one..."_

 _Helios...I heard your voice before! That's why I was crying...after all this time, you finally came to visit me in my dreams! But only to tell me you were alright...and that you wanted me to stay away. He just ended it, right then and there..._

As I felt the cracks in my heart widening again, I desperately tried to remember something, ANYTHING else about my dream. There was so much that happened before I met Helios again, so many scattered images I know I must have dreamed... _but none of the pieces made any sense. I did see the Crystal Forest again. There was Pegasus, Helios' winged form, just as I remembered._ Thinking of Pegasus and the Crystal Forest now only made me want to curl up under my sheets and cry again, so I tried to think about what was in the middle. _There was a crumbling old stadium, and a graham cracker volcano spouting rivers of chocolate...and a lobster...and being chased by a pack of furs._ Then I remembered woman cackling at me from behind a mask, like the one Sailor V used to wear, and a robed figure who was pitch black the whole time, but I couldn't remember who they were or what they were doing in a dream about Helios. _That's what sucks about dreams...it's so much easier to remember the scary parts, the nightmares...  
_  
 _Like Helios not coming to visit me, coming back just to tell me it was his choice. I knew that part was real._ As real as the sound of my window creaking open and something furry squeezing through to pounce on my face...

"GET OMPH!" _I knew the cat-sized blob was probably Luna, but that didn't help the fact I remembered a bunch of animals chasing me around in my dream. Or that she was smothering me in my own bed!_ Luna's claws dug into the sides of my face before she retracted them and tumbled up. Her red eyes were wide as plates when she noticed me.

"RINI?!" I saw Luna's white-haired sidekick followed her through the window at the edge of my sight while I wiped Luna's paw prints off with my sleeve. _Artemis and Luna...they were super busy in Crystal Tokyo too_. "How long have you been here? I wasn't sure if you were coming back, I - I admit I thought you were done with your training and you technically see us all anyway! Hey - is Diana with you?!"

"You silly old cat, Artemis! Of course I always planned on coming back!" Artemis' ears and tail both drooped when I didn't mention Diana. _Of course he wanted to see his future daughter too._ I thought of a way to let him down gently and smiled. "I can't say much, but Diana got a promotion! She's training with future Plu back home!" Mina's moody companion cat did smile a little bit.

"I'm so sorry, Rini!" Luna bowed her head. "I was so tired, I wasn't even looking when I dropped in!"

"It's OK...I didn't feel like going back to sleep anyway," I sighed. _I should be happier I had some company...I wanted to be...how could I be so selfish?  
_  
"Was it a bad dream? Or just some jet lag related to your time travel?" Luna offered other suggestions, but I remembered... _I transformed into Sailor Mini Moon in my dream. I remembered the comforting glow of Pegasus' power leaving me...and he didn't return it. Because he said I didn't need it anymore._ I left Artemis and Luna hanging by my bedside while I tore through my dresser looking for my brooch. Part of me was still clinging to that tiny strip of hope that Helios sending me away was part of my dream too. But when my fumbling fingers stumbled upon my compact, that hope shattered when they closed upon a round shape. It was the Prism Moon Compact that I pulled out, with the smaller heart-shaped diamond in the center. _I couldn't become Super Sailor Mini Moon anymore...he really said goodbye._

"Your compact!" Luna and Artemis both exclaimed together when they saw it for themselves.

"I finally saw him again." I crawled back into bed, clutching the edge of my blanket and holding my eyes shut like dams about to break. _Artemis and Luna would be so mad at me if they saw me crying like I was five years old again._ "Helios, he...he called me to his dream world. He said he was fine, and that I didn't need him anymore. And he didn't want me visiting him!"

"You mean you haven't seen him since you went back to Elysion?" Luna's voice shook. "Maybe you just happened to have a dream about Helios at the same time your brooch lost its powers! We don't know for sure they're linked - "

"It really was him, Luna!" My body shook and the tears came anyway _. Whatever self-control I had just crumbled in front of the Guardian Cats._ "HE ONLY PRETENDED HE LIKED ME BECAUSE HE KNEW I'D CRY NON-STOP IF I KNEW HOW HE REALLY FELT! HE ALWAYS TREATED ME LIKE A LITTLE KID AND RAN AWAY WHEN I WAS BEING ANNOYING! ALWAYS!"

Instead of lecturing me, I felt Luna cuddling up next to my arm, while Artemis quietly perched himself on my shoulder and rubbed his cheek against mine. "We've been mentoring the Sailor Scouts for a long time, Rini," whispered Luna. "So please believe me when I tell you...you're not annoying."

"Liar..." I was still sobbing, but I felt myself brighten up a little as I said the word.

"OK, your first visit gave us a migraine - " Artemis flinched when Luna raised her paw, claws extended, to swipe at the back of his head. "But she grew out of it! Compared to the time we had training Mina and Serena, Rini...I never felt like we had to remind you how important the Sailor Scouts are. Even back then you put your mom, and dad, and the future of everyone on this planet first. To me, that shows a big heart AND a lot of maturity. You'll bounce back to your cheery self again, Rini...we need you to."

Artemis' words were beautiful... _even Luna seemed taken aback by them. I wondered where Serena was now...cramming for those finals to save herself at the last possible second, like always, I bet...and then I saw her spiraling from the top of the coliseum again, wrapped in feathered wings._ "Serena...I saw her in my dream too. I saw Eternal Sailor Moon...and then the same thing happened to her, with her powers."

I saw Luna's ears stiffen. "You mean...she didn't just lose Pegasus' special power, she can't become Eternal Sailor Moon either? Are you sure, Rini."

"It's all a big fuzz, but I remember her coming to help me find Pegasus. There was...somebody else in the dream. Somebody she knew. It seems like a lot for me to make up in my head." I closed my eyes and tried to remember if I got his name, or any features I saw that might give Luna and Artemis more of a clue. _But I just remembered him as a black hole shaped like a person, wearing robes maybe. I had a name for him..._

"There's definitely something more to Rini's dream if Serena shared it with her," Artemis said after a long stare with Luna. "We've gotta check up on her. Right now."

"Now is the worst possible time for that." Luna objected. "Serena's not in the best frame of mind for that conversation."

"We already made a mistake letting the others pull away from each other, Luna." Artemis insisted. "What if something's targeting the Sailor Scouts, stripping them of their powers to prepare for an attack? Pegasus shared his power with the rest of the Inner Scouts, too."

"So we'll find Uranus, Neptune, Pluto...the Outer Scouts are still active," argued Luna. _I hadn't gotten to see Hotaru yet...I hoped it would be soon, I missed her so much. Plu too...leaving would have hurt even more if she wasn't in this century too._ "Maybe Rini will remember more if we just give her some time to rest."

"Or she and Serena will forget even more if we put this off too long." _Artemis wasn't going to let this go...and he was right._

"It...would cheer me up to see her again," I admitted to Luna. "I didn't have any luck getting her or Amy over the phone. Meatball brain had better be hitting the books, there was a message on Mama Ikuko's phone that said she was flunking but I deleted it."

Luna and Artemis traded looks. _I could see Luna was definitely upset over what Artemis was thinking, but the two always took Sailor Scout business a lot more seriously. We always counted on them for that_.

"I just hope she's in a better mood than the one we left her in." Luna slipped back out through my window and peeked at us through the glass. "You'd better grab your shoes Rini, but be VERY careful not to wake anybody up. You can't afford to get caught. I'll go on ahead."

"Hang on, are we meeting Serena in person?!" I squealed to Artemis before I remembered what Luna just told me and clamped my hand over my mouth. I swung my legs out from under the bed and tiptoed to the stairs barefoot. _However we're getting to Serena's, I have double the reason no to let Mama Ikuko catch me. I'd seen her get really mad at Serena before and I did not want her kicking me out of the house either. And Mama warned me that Papa Ken had to take an earlier shift to make up for coming home early last night, so I'd better be sure I was in the kitchen to apologize by the time we did. The last thing I needed was for Mama Ikuko to catch me sneaking out before the sun even came out..._

* * *

Lucky for me, everybody home slept like a log. _Serena and Sammy must have gotten that trait from their parents._ Still wearing my nightie, I slipped into my shoes and met Artemis at the front door. A quick glance at the clock told me it was 4 in the morning when I slipped out into the dark streets of Tokyo with only Artemis beside me. _The dark windows lining the empty streets, the streets rolling up and down like hills, everything reminded me about the dream that started it all, the first time I met Pegasus...Helios_. _Those used to be my happiest dreams...how quickly those same images made me want to cry again. No...I couldn't. I had to cheer up. I was going to the States! And Serena would be there, for real this time!_

"So Artemis...you've got some magic portal that can take me to Serena's and back before breakfast, right? Let's just say I don't need to get into any more trouble?" At first, I thought Artemis had gotten lazy again when he stopped running, but he was looking up at me with a scrunchy face. That made me go all pouty-face myself. "Aw, don't tell me you're bringing her here, that would be such a waste! I know we've only got a few minutes, but I still wanna see California! It's such a big state, from what I've heard! There's San Francisco, and L.A. and of course Mina's always talking about Hollywood! And Disneyland! I know we have one here, but I want to see the American one! Nothing cheers people up like Disneyland!" _Just the sort of place I'd want to go to get my mind off things.  
_  
"Sorry to disappoint you, Rini." _Mina was right: he was being such a downer - that was the right phrase, right? I didn't hear it from Mina. Anyway, he gets so moody right after he tries to cheer me up!_ But then Artemis tilted his head towards a corner, like he was telling me to take a peek. "No need for a portal," he added.

"What do you mean?" I raised a hand over my mouth to cover my yawn before I heard somebody around the corner covering one of their own. _Who else could be up and about at this hour?_

"Luna, would you make it snappy?" _That was Serena's voice! AWWW, LUNA ALREADY BROUGHT HER THROUGH!_ "You know it'll be really embarrassing if I open late when I'm living in the basement!" _Wait, what?!_

Artemis was hanging his head when I looked down to him for an answer. "Sorry we didn't give you more of a heads up. Serena made us promise not to tell."

"Tell me what?" I started asking. "If there's no portal, how else would she - " _Wait...Serena just quit school and came back here?! But her counselor left that message on her phone just last night! Why wouldn't anyone else tell me?!_

...Because they didn't know either. Serena just gave up. But if there's one thing about her that lived up to the stories mom and dad always told me about the legendary Sailor Moon, it's that she never gave up. Sure, she always left a mountain of failed tests under her bed for Mama Ikuko to find, but she always squeaked through somehow!

I had to double check she had those blonde pigtails skirting the floor and the bumps on her head to be sure it was really her. _I couldn't believe she'd just give up this time...and she'd just come here to hide from everybody._

"I know my timing's really bad, Serena." Luna apologized. "I had an urgent question...did you have any strange dreams last night?"

"I scrambled out of bed extra early to answer THAT?! Do you have any idea how long it takes me to put this on?!" _Serena was sure dressed like an American, though she looked like she just fell out of one of those ancient black-and-white cowboy movies. She had the vest, the skirt, the brown boots, even the brimmed hat. Maybe she was a LITTLE taller, but no chance for a growth spurt at her age._ Serena pouted before raising a finger to her chin more thoughtfully to ponder Luna's question. "Well, now that you mention it...I had a bit of a panic attack this morning. I thought I sleepwalked and ate the chocolate ice cream out of somebody else's fridge...then I thought it might have been a fudge covered lobster, that would have been even worse!"

"I don't think that's the dream we're looking for," Luna sighed. _Actually, it's a lot closer than you think, Luna...not that Serena dreaming about food is out of the ordinary._ "Can I see your compact? Tell me you still keep it on you at all times."

Still groggy, Serena fumbled through her pocket. "Of course I've got it, naggy old nanny - WAIT, WHAT?!" Serena froze when her eyes fell on the heart-shaped brooch she lifted from her pocket. "How did...it change back?"

"So it wasn't just a dream. Rini was right," Luna said to herself, though Serena frowned when she mentioned my name. "She just came back. I still think you should talk to SOMEBODY else about what's going on with you - "

"There's nothing to tell! And even if there was, Rini's the last blob I want to look at right now!" _Even with all our back and forth, Serena's words hurt even more than they usually did._ I was caught off guard when Serena's eyes darted to the corner I was peeking from. She must have caught the end of one of my ponytails flying back behind the corner, because then she started shouting. "But you went and brought her anyway!"

"This was urgent, Serena! I'm sorry!" Usually it was the other way around, but Luna shrunk in the face of Serena's anger this time. "The Sailor Scouts might be in trouble! You're still Sailor Moon - "

"AND WHERE HAS THAT GOTTEN ME?! FACE IT LUNA, NOBODY WANTS OR NEEDS ME AROUND ANYMORE!" Luna barely somersaulted out of the way before Serena hurled her brooch - HARD - towards Luna's face. Artemis and I both stared at Serena in disbelief at what we just saw. Luna just sat there in a daze herself before Serena turned her back on us and ran.

"I...wasn't expecting THAT," Artemis apologized. _Luna tried to warn us, but Serena's tantrum was a surprise for me too. Although...I remembered she turned her back on me and ran in my dream too. Maybe I should have expected it..._

"I'll follow her!" I dusted Serena's compact off the ground and sprinted after her. _After I came home, most of my Sailor Scout training took place in the classroom, but they pushed me to keep running. It helped me out yesterday, all the running back and forth I had to do to see everyone, and now with Serena too_. Her running form was lousy - she was flailing her arms about. I was able to catch up with her after she ignored me calling her name several times. I finally came close enough to grab one of her arms and tug her back. "SERENA!"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" If I had my eyes closed, I would have thought Lita was the one grabbing my forearm. _I didn't expect Serena could squeeze it that hard. Serena's eyes...she had that same flash of anger from the woman I saw in my dream, someone_ _who dressed like us and hid her face between a mask like Sailor V's._ Serena made me lose my balance when she shoved my arm and tossed me aside, sending me tumbling off the curb and into the street. The Serena looking over me was the babbling wide-eyed one I was familiar with, as if whatever had possessed her had let go. "Rini! I didn't mean to! Did I hurt you?"

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?!" I slapped away the gentler hand she offered to help pull me up. _Even with my lower expectations, meeting Serena again had STILL let me down. Mom never would have shoved me!_ "WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO ALL OF YOU?! WHY DO YOU HATE ME ALL OF A SUDDEN?!"

"I never could..." Serena whimpered when I came face-to-face with her. _I couldn't stay mad at her...not the way she shrank away from me, like SHE was afraid this time._

"How come you didn't want to see me, then?" I was still standing out of her reach, but I tried to sound gentler this time.

"I did, just...not as the blubbering mess you see in front of you now." Serena couldn't make it through her sentence without choking on tears. "I was scared you'd run home, blab to mom and dad that you were always right about me. I'm a total screw-up without my entourage of babysitters!"

"You're putting words in my mouth again, Serena." I let my guard down and came closer to her. _She wasn't gonna lash out at me again...not like this._ "Everybody here was telling me that you were doing so well, even with Amy studying in Germany. Then I heard a message on Mama Ikuko's phone that said you were failing - "

"I quit, OK?!" Serena blurted out. "I just got tired of failing everything, so this time I quit before it happened again!"

I heard the gentle patter of Luna and Artemis' paws behind me. Luna tried to assure her "that isn't true, Serena - "

"I'M STILL MAD AT YOU!" Serena snapped back. She quieted down when she noticed I was looking to the rooftops for any lights or anyone peeking through the windows. _At least from here, it doesn't look like we woke anybody up._

"We shouldn't do this in the middle of the street - " Artemis was also cut off by Serena, folding her arms and frowning at him.

"Dad said the legendary Sailor Moon never gave up." Serena winced when I mentioned 'dad'. "But you can still fix this. You don't have to go through it alone, Serena - "

"I know what's going to happen if I come home, Rini! Dad's gonna have a heart attack when he finds out how much money he and mom wasted on a flunkie! Then mom's just gonna make it official and kick me out of the house forever, anyway!" Serena rambled. "Everybody else has it together but me. I've always been the weakest link. They don't need me piling on top of them."

"The others aren't as happy as you think, Serena," I admitted to her. _But_ _I used to run to Plu whenever I thought mom or dad would yell at me when I came home too. I couldn't judge her too harshly._ "I deleted that phone message. If you don't want me to tell anyone else you're here, I won't. Just promise...you'll talk to Darien, at least."

I knew Serena wouldn't take hearing his name well, either. _He was the reason she left..._ But Serena put on a braver face for me."We planned on getting married around this time you know. I would have done it sooner...as soon as I finished high school. I thought that was his plan, too. But out of the blue, he just changed his mind. He planned on studying in New York before things got...crazy...and then he said he wanted to give it another shot. He said I should also give university a try, that we should keep our lives going and not just wait for the future to get here. I should have known that was the first sign he was getting sick of hanging around me...but I was stupid."

"He told me his side of it. I think he realizes he made a mistake," I confessed to her. I tried putting on another smile for her. "But I haven't fizzled out of existence yet! That means you two will be an item sooner or later, right?"

Serena more playfully swatted me on the head. "Nehelenia almost proved you wrong, remember? But...next to that, I guess I can make it through a phone call."

"YES!" I cheered. _For just a moment, with Serena hugging me...I really felt like I was in mom's arms again._

"I haven't been this happy in weeks," Serena whispered into my ear. And then she backed off just a little bit. "Though I'm not letting you off the hook for stealing my nightie that easy!"

"I didn't take your stupid nightie! Mama Ikuko left it out for me!" _There we were again, same old same old. GGGRRR, SERENA!_ "A bat could see my old one wouldn't fit me!"

"But I didn't say you could wear it!" Serena huffed.

Again, I forgot where we were and raised my arms out to to my sides to yell at her. "What do you want me to do? Take it off now and run home streaking?"

Serena was left staring dumbfounded following loud yelps from Luna and Artemis. "Who told you what that was?!" Serena planted her hands on her hips like she was mimicking Mama Ikuko. "Was it future Mercury?!"

 _I couldn't believe Serena guessed right. I didn't want to get future Mercury in trouble - she didn't MEAN for me to find out the way I did!_ "Plu wouldn't want me to say! You know that!"

"I hate interrupting," Luna received another glare from Serena for doing just that. "I know you've gotta get back..."

"We're trying to figure out whether you were in that dream I had." I took over from Luna at that point. "I remember chocolate and lobsters in mine too...but there were others there. I think they were our enemies...and one of them knew you from somewhere. I don't remember very much either."

Serena shook her head. "Nothing like that, Rini. Although...I remember seeing the Moon Palace recently. Hey, I do remember saving your butt quite a few times, though maybe I wasn't dreaming - "

"The Palace, Serena," I groaned.

"I'm not sure if they're related, but..." Serena shut her eyes, and I could see her brain - _small as it was -_ raising behind them trying to sort through everything, like I did earlier. "There was somebody...not one of the Sailor Scouts. He wasn't dressed like the rest of us, I remember that much. He said he knew Princess Serenity...but I don't think he died defending the Moon Palace. I think...it might have been before...he felt like someone I might have known way back then. Other than that, I'm not sure."

"That was more helpful than you realize. Thank you, Serena," Luna smiled. _I hoped this meant they'd start patching things up again soon._

"Serena...you have a roof over your head in the meantime, right?" I couldn't help asking. _I wish she'd just come home with me...but I knew I couldn't force her. Sometimes you've gotta give the one you love a chance to figure things out and just...be there for them. Pegasus gave me that advice once..._

"Yeah, I've got a place to stay." Serena winced when I raised an eyebrow at her. "There's no hunk involved, I swear! OK, there's a much older guy but he's been married for like, fifty years! You've got nothing to fear, kiddo!"

"No, but you do, Serena!" _As if she'd never try to make Darien jealous for all those times he kept HER on edge!_ "He sounds like he could be one of those...sugar daddies!"

Following another pair of yelps, I saw Luna roll over on her back with all four paws raised. "Streaking and sugar daddies?! What have the future Scouts been teaching you?!"

"That settles it: Diana's being home-schooled!" declared Artemis.

 _Even Serena was just staring at me. Why were they having such a reaction over THAT?_ "If you were just OPENING for him I might have thought it was just business, but leaving ice cream in the fridge for you to get at? That's what sugar daddies do, right!"

"YES RINI, IT'S PURELY ABOUT ICE CREAM!" Luna blurted out... _as if that wasn't a sign there was more to it._ "Still, favors for sweets isn't very nice, especially when pretty girls and older guys are involved, so...just don't say it anymore, OK?"

Serena's eyes darted down to her watch. "I can't believe I'm living there and I'm STILL gonna be late! I've really gotta go...sorry, Rini. We'll hang out later, K?"

"Yeah...how many times have I heard that one before?" I said to myself with Serena too far away to hear me, running back to wherever she had to be. _No good trying to hide I was disappointed. At least it was kinda nice, being together for a little bit. But everyone seemed to be running these days.  
_

* * *

"She still won't admit it, but she missed you like crazy." Luna looked up at me with those big red eyes of hers. "Hanging around the city this early isn't such a good idea, even with us here. We'd better head back."

"Not just yet." Artemis shied away from Luna, as if he'd been hiding something, and led us down an alley. "I have to show you something first...and Rini's bedroom may not be the best place for it."

Luna and I both traded uneasy glances. _What could Artemis possibly have that he'd rather show us in a dark alley than my room?_ "Say, Luna...what Serena said earlier, about the one in our dreams. It didn't sound like much of a clue."

"The Silver Crystal gifted us with extremely long lifespans. Funerals were a very rare occurrence," answered Luna. "If this...associate of Princess Serenity died in service to her mother, he would have been commemorated in the Chamber of Prayer. At least we have an idea where to look...though we'll be digging for a needle in the haystack. The Chamber fell with the rest of the Palace."

"That's what I wanted to show you." Artemis sighed heavily. "I...may already have a lead."

Artemis backflipped and a decorative glass box, covered in many jewels, shimmered into existence. _The same way Luna gave the other girls their transformation pens the first time...just whipped them out of thin air, like they had a magic container somewhere._ The top of Artemis' box had a crescent moon at the center, with five worn out figures around them...but the symbols etched next to them were still crystal clear. _The Sailor Scouts surrounded the moon like the face of a clock, and Princess Serenity's figure was at the very top...I could tell by the buns. She wasn't posing as a defender like the other guardians, but she had her arms raised out._

"A decorative face with Princess Serenity...this belonged to her mother!" Luna's mouth hung open in complete disbelief. _This was Grandma Serenity's...over a thousand years old!_ "All these years and I never even knew! How come you never told me she passed this on to us, Artemis?"

Artemis dropped his head. "Because she didn't. While we were rallying the nobles to protect the Moon Palace, I...split off and removed Queen Serenity's box from the Chamber of Prayer."

"YOU WHAT?!" Luna stared at him in utter shock. "Artemis, removing ANYTHING from the Chamber was an act of sacrilege! Even for Queen Serenity herself! You would have been banished from the Palace!"

"I meant to give it back to her, Luna!" Artemis cried back. "I watched Queen Serenity lay it beside the Crystal Tower just days before we were attacked. She was crying. I was sure she would survive even if the Palace was destroyed. Now this box is all that's left."

"But who was Queen Serenity mourning?" Luna asked. Artemis was left without an answer for her. Curiosity took hold and I reached for the box myself. The moment I picked it up, my brooch started glowing.

"Hold on, Rini!" Artemis called for me to hold still before I nearly dropped it, then he ran underneath the box. "There's an inscription! It became visible as soon as your brooch reacted!"

"Ancient Lunarian script...written in Queen Serenity's hand!" Luna exclaimed after she joined Artemis beneath it. "It's a prayer. It reads: "In my absence, may those protected by the planets watch over you alongside the stars. However distant they must be, may they forever light your way. Should the hand of evil reach for you once more, may the light of our moon slap it away. I offer your name to the Chamber of Prayer as penance...may you find warmth in the embrace of your adoptive guardian, child of Pluto's moon."

 _Such sad words. Almost like she knew the end of the first Silver Millennium was coming. But the end came so fast, there's no way she could have stopped it. I learned that from my history lessons. How often I thought about the first Kingdom, how it might have looked compared to Crystal Tokyo, with a younger version of my mom and the Sailor Scouts. And the first Queen Serenity._

"It almost sounds like Queen Serenity knew we'd come across this," Artemis admitted after a long silence. "Like she doesn't want us to go looking for this adopted child of Pluto's moon. So which one - "

"Charon." _ONE of Pluto's moons, according to future Mercury's lesson._ Artemis and I both looked to Luna to answer how she narrowed it down. "I don't know anything about her...or him. Many could have used that name, for all I know. I just remembered hearing Queen Serenity call SOMEONE by that name. I lingered in her throne room once: I didn't mean to eavesdrop but naming someone after a celestial body, even one not protected by a Sailor Guardian...it was highly unusual, even frowned upon. Sailor Scout or not, whoever they were must have been important."

 _Another Sailor Scout? Could there really be more of us out there?_

"We met the Starlights, but I don't think there are any Moon Kingdom Scouts left to find." Artemis answered my question before I even asked. Then he leaned on the box and strained to flip the top open with no luck. "The box responded to your Crystal, Rini. Maybe it senses you're Queen Serenity's heir."

"I can give it a try." _I hoped Artemis was right...I wasn't Lita, but the box still looked fragile._ Of course, trying to squeeze my fingers under the top reminded me of that ancient saying about judging a book by its cover. _It just wouldn't budge._ _But then I saw a flash from inside the Moon Castle...at least how I pictured it...the woman in the orange dress dancing with the ghostly figure. I didn't think she was Mina...but I wondered..._ I pressed down on the scrubbed-away face of Sailor Venus this time and sure enough, I heard a little clicking sound. I felt a little sad to see the decorative box fizzle away, but the silver bracer hidden inside was just as pretty. I felt something else roll down my shoe after falling out of the box, but I couldn't take my eyes off the decorated bracer in my hand.

"It's so beautifully crafted!" I ran my hands along the design. Disappointment set in again when I tugged at the black straps beneath it and they hardly budged. _I would have to wear a cinder block around mine just so the bracer wouldn't slide off._ I ran my fingers along the lines carved into the silver, up to the empty slot on top. "It looks like a crystal fits in here, just like the inside of our brooches. Except...this would be a weird-shaped crystal." _There was no symmetry to it at all, like it was for a crystal that hadn't been cut right._

"Weird-shaped is right. Looks like it came with a bracer." Luna's voice led my eyes down to my foot. Next to it was a jagged black crystal with a purple shine. _So that's what landed on my foot._ "You remember where we've seen this stone like this before..."

"Yeah...I thought we'd seen the last of it with Wiseman," Artemis sneered. _I didn't need any reminder about all the things HE did, even if it was hard to believe that a couple hours ago, I was helping memorialize the event with the rest of Crystal Tokyo._

Death Phantom Junior. That was my name for the ghost in his dreams. He attacked me, alongside that woman dressed like Sailor V...but then he helped me. Who was he?

"It may be similar, but the aura around this stone feels different. Less...refined. Wait! Rini, you shouldn't touch it!" I heard Luna calling when my fingers reached out for the crystal, but I couldn't pull my hand away from it. _Like it wasn't my hand anymore..._

* * *

The edges of the crystal were so rough, I felt like I could have pricked my hand with the slightest ounce of pressure. Whatever possessed me to want to hold it, I snapped out of it when the alley went pitch black. _Everything just went dark...I couldn't see Luna OR Artemis._

 _"Rini..."_ A stomach-churning blend of elation and pain set in when I heard Helios' voice faintly calling me. I saw that pained expression on his face again, and it was because he was wrapped in a blackened chain forcing him to stand upright. _Here he was again, he needed my help...but hearing him say my name hurt as much as seeing him suffer._ I reached towards the chain shackling him, but he flinched away and whispered _"I asked you...to stay away..."_

I felt all pity for him draining right then and there. _Even when he needed my help, he treated me like a burden, like some useless child. He caught me off guard last time, but now was my chance to tell him just how I felt about him..._ "You said you were sparing my feelings earlier, but you're just a coward! And an ungrateful one at that, couldn't even say thank you after I trotted through dreamland with the overgrown crybaby!"

 _Wait, I didn't mean to say all that! I wasn't trying to be harsh, and I didn't mean to say something nasty about Serena either! The words just tumbled out...and my voice didn't sound like my own either. It sounded scratchier, harsher...older..._

" _For your own sake..._ " As Helios' pained voice whispered again, I felt myself pacing back and forth. _I was wearing heels...and Helios looked even shorter than he was when I last saw him._

"Oh, I didn't come here for you." _Again, my mouth started moving before anything came to mind again_. "You were right about one thing, Helios...I don't need you anymore."

I raised a hand with much longer fingers in front of my face... _and it had black cuffs with diamonds around my wrist! No, this wasn't me! I wasn't back to being HER again!_ I watched myself snap my own adult-size hand, making the figure holding the chain around Helios become visible. _The person-shaped black hole...DEATH PHANTOM JUNIOR! He was the one from my dream! No, this was all wrong! He helped me, and I helped him...and then he crumbled right in front of me! I'd never enslave him for some revenge mission on Helios! This wasn't me!_

"I'll have everyone I could ever want at my beck and call soon enough." Wicked Lady - _I -_ snarled. I felt myself run my hand across Phantom Junior's back, cold and lifeless to the touch. Reduced to watching my own body move without me, I ran my fingers all the way up to Phantom Junior's hand and felt them worm their way to his chain's handle, gently tugging it out of his hand. _Now I was holding Helios._ I crisscrossed my legs, drawing closer to him, wrapping the chain around his throat. Phantom Junior passed me the other end of his weapon, an empty handle...or so I thought, until a pulsing purplish sickle pulsed from it. I felt myself erupt into a fit of shrieking laughter while I tightened the chain crisscrossed around Helios' throat until he started choking. Then I pressed the sickle against his neck, just beneath his chin...

* * *

 _"Wait! Rini, you shouldn't touch it!"_ The sound of Luna repeating herself shook me out of my nightmare. _Luna and Artemis were back. So was the alley we were in earlier and the rest of the stars._ I felt sweat trickling down my forehead while I looked down to my hands in a panic. _No chain or sickle in them, but how could I be sure I didn't do it?!_ I looked down to my familiar red-and-white shoes, then reaching for one of my pigtails to make sure my hair wasn't too long. But I could still hear my older self's voice whisper to me from the black crystal still in my hand.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" I screamed and tossed the stone away in horror. _I couldn't have done that to Helios, no matter how much he hurt my feelings!_

"What did you see?!" Artemis also went into a panic at the sight of me panicking. "You only held the crystal for a split second, but your eyes seemed to go blank!"

I breathed the loudest sigh of relief I could, but that crystal was still on the ground in front of me. _I wanted to smash it into a thousand tiny pieces_. "You've gotta throw it away! Why would Queen Serenity leave something like that in the Palace?!"  
 _  
_"That's a good question." Luna exchanged a long glance with Artemis. "You're not thinking...there could be some truth to the rumors that went around before Earth fell?"

"What rumors?" I asked.

"You know that the Sailor Scouts weren't the only ones who served the Moon Kingdom," Luna answered. "There were the Palace Guards, and the armies of Silver Millennium. But some believed there were still more. Our mission was to watch over and guide the people of Earth. A select few were permitted to travel back and forth between our Kingdoms. Lunarian scientists, sociologists, archaeologists whose mission was to be Queen Serenity's eyes on Earth."

"But dad was the Crown Prince back then, wasn't he?" I asked. "I thought that was his job."

Artemis hesitated before he continued with his answer. "You remember Queen Beryl too, right? She began spreading rumors that they were actually Lunarian spies, and they had been meddling in Endymion's court for centuries. She said we treated Earth like a puppet state. Then Queen Beryl's army began spreading stories about these spies to scare Endymion's people: that they could manipulate patrols into fighting each other just by suggestion and make fortresses crumble from the inside. Even Prince Endymion himself started getting suspicious."

"Why didn't we run into these spies before, then?" I asked. _And just why were so few allowed to go back-and-forth between the Moon and the Earth? Why did past Serena have to sneak around to visit past Darien?_

"It wasn't common knowledge Queen Serenity gave ANYONE permission to go to Earth regularly. We only knew because we lived in the Moon Palace even noticed," Artemis answered. "Everyone Queen Serenity had on Earth was either hunted down...or they switched sides."

"I'm sure we would have run into them if the latter was true," suggested Luna. _Not that I wished for the other thing to happen to them either._ Luna dashed in front of me, as if she was worried I'd kick the dark crystal piece down the drain. "The aura around this shard feels...different. Still, we might be jumping ahead of ourselves here. Lunarian spies using dark magic?"

"Maybe Queen Serenity knew before the rest of us did," Artemis suggested. "She saw how desperate the situation was - "

"That would mean Queen Serenity lied to the rest of the Moon Kingdom. I can't just accept that." Luna sighed, staring at the dark shard as she did. "There has to be more of an explanation. Leaving the fate of two kingdoms in the hands of a few scientists?"

"We've still got records to sift through," suggested Artemis. "It's not like we've had anything better to do lately. Maybe we can dig up some references to this child of Pluto's moon, or the lost scientists."

"Hey, maybe Plu would know something about this child of her moon?" _It would be a reason to visit her and Hotaru, along with Amara and Michelle again._ "You don't think...Queen Serenity meant HER child, do you?"

Luna shook her head in denial. "Sailor Pluto has been the keeper of time since she was a child herself. She would never forsake her duty...I suspect one reason Neo Queen Serenity gave her permission to leave her post was to give her that chance."

 _I wonder if Plu ever thought about marrying and having kids of her own someday...or just being with SOMEONE. She had such a lonely life guarding the Space-Time Door. I knew Plu would always put me, and my parents, and being the Guardian of time over everything else. But I wanted her to be happy too. Why did the others feel like they'd have to give up everything for us?_

I wondered if Phantom Junior knew who he, or she, or they were... _or why Queen Serenity would keep an evil black crystal copy in the most sacred part of her Palace._ _Charon...that would have been a nicer name for you, instead of Death Phantom Junior. Maybe I can call you that in the meantime, unless we find out who Serenity's child of Pluto's moon really was. Or until I find out your real name._

 _Yes. That's how I'll remember you in my thoughts. Charon._

 **To Be Continued  
**

* * *

 **A/N:** First, I want to thank everyone who reviewed and sent me a note last time, including you Arcadian Dreamer :) Don't think your reviews mean any less to me if I haven't heard from you before, or it's a guest review! Member or not, I love getting feedback and nothing keeps me more motivated than hearing people are enjoying my story! Faves and follows are great too, but as an author, sometimes I wonder if someone just clicked it thinking "hmm, this is interesting, maybe I'll check it out later" but don't get around to reading it. With view counts, you don't know if people are just skimming through. But when I get a review or a note, it tells me you're really reading and that makes me happy :D

I want to talk a bit about last chapter and Peruru: yeah, I thought about Rini mentioning him but it's tricky to tell whether the Super S movie is canon. It's harder for me to see Peruru making a return and I felt Rini's feelings for him were just friendly...though she didn't shoot him down with "I'm waiting for someone either." She didn't call on Pegasus once, so I take it as a hint the movie took place in between seasons.

I've been listening to your feedback on my last chapter and I know some of you felt that I glossed over Pseudo Scout's and Death Phantom Junior's role in the story way too quickly. Being a prequel AND my third story, it's tricky to hit the right balance between two different audiences - I got some criticism that Chapter 3 moved too slow. I wanted to assure you, with this chapter, we haven't seen the last of them yet. Pseudo Scout warned Sailor Moon and Mini Moon the real "Death Phantom Junior" was still out there. Hopefully you appreciated the hints ;)

Hopefully it's clear enough that Rini and Serena's dream memory is more than a little fuzzy, and I know the ending might have felt abrupt. I did have a bit more written but it's been more than two weeks since my latest and I really wanted to share where we're going next. Rini remembering the former "Death Phantom Junior" felt like the right place to end it, to let you know that he (and Pseudo Scout) still have a part to play. I may be busy in the coming weeks, but I hope to have the next part for you soon! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you - guest or not! :D


	7. With Friends Like These

**Chapter 7: With Friends Like These**

"Oh no, the radio's going full blast!" I whispered to Luna and Artemis when I crept through the door and tiptoed against the wall just after the sun started peeking out. _That talking head in the corner of the kitchen could only mean one thing: Papa Ken was already up!_

"You had to detour us for an early morning fish snack!" Luna hissed. _The Guardian Cats were leaning up against the wall too, not that they would get in nearly as much trouble as I would if anyone else had noticed my shoes were missing._

"SOMEBODY was watching us from the rooftops, Luna!" Artemis whispered back. "I didn't know he'd lead us through the back alley of a seafood place, he must have known my weakness! You believe me, right Rini?" I pretended to take an interest in a certain corner and pretended I didn't hear him.

"If your wild goose chase lands Rini in hot water, I'll boil you in one of my own!" Luna snapped at him.

I breathed a little sigh of relief when I leaned over enough to see Papa Ken's arm lift a cup of coffee to his lips. _Mmmm I've gotta find where they keep their stash...NO, now's not the time to be thinking about myself. Poor Papa Ken scurried around the city all night, thinking I was in some kind of trouble. Maybe I didn't have a cell phone and needed some refreshing on this century's tech, but I could have found SOME way to let them know._ I tiptoed nervously into the kitchen behind Grandpa's seat and twiddled my fingers. _I wouldn't blame him if he was mad at me too, though I hoped not. He was up extra early to make up for coming home to greet me last night...except I wasn't even there._

"Papa Ken..." I muttered softly, both because mom and Sam were still sleeping upstairs and because I was nervous. Serena and Sam's dad set down his other artifact, the newspaper, beside his coffee cup.

"INTRUDER! I'm calling the police!" I went stiff when Papa Ken lurched for the phone on the counter... _and just started laughing_. "As if I would forget my own niece! Although, you've still got a couple years to go before you have to get up at THIS hour! What got you out of bed so early?"

"Papa Ken...dad, I owe you an apology." I clasped my hands together. "Sorry I wasn't here."

"Well...don't tell mom I told you, but once upon a time I used to come home late after jammin' with my fellow metalheads." _OK, he did NOT look old enough to use words like that!_ Then Papa Ken suddenly went all-straight faced. "You weren't held up by some spiky-haired weirdo BOY, did you?"

"Oh no, I was just catching up with my old GIRL friends!" I babbled, but Papa Ken still raised a single brow. _I knew what he was really asking._ "OK, there was one guy - "

"WHO?! WHAT KIND OF DELINQUENT KEEPS MY TWEEN NIECE OUT PAST ELEVEN P.M.?!" Papa Ken spilled coffee all over his newspaper when he dropped his cup on the table and catapulted from his seat. _Sammy and Mama Ikuko were bound to come down any minute wondering what racket woke them up at five in the morning._ "Oh, don't tell me he's too OLD to be a delinquent!"

"I just bumped into Darien, OK Dad?" _I was wary about telling Grandma and Grandpa I'd been hanging out with Serena's ex-fiance. Now I just had to hope dad would handle it better than the first time Serena and I - unintentionally - brought Darien home._

"NO! No, no, NO, no no! NO!" With no regard for the time of day, Papa Ken's voice thundered over the patter of Sam, then Mama Ikuko's, steps coming down the stairs. "That...cradle-robber's not running off with my niece after ditching my little girl at the altar!"

"I thought you were crying tears of JOY when Darien called off the wedding." Sammy, alongside Mama Ikuko, shuffle-stepped into the middle of the kitchen.

"OK, fine. I was a LITTLE relieved Serena wasn't getting married JUST yet," Papa Ken explained. "But how DARE he break my little girl's heart!"

"Darien and I are just FRIENDS, dad!" I squealed.

"You sure, cuz? You had us going with "Darien's MY boyfriend" and "I'm gonna be Darien's bride!" Sam mocked me by repeating what I said years ago in a chipmunk voice. I answered by sticking my tongue out at Sam. _OK, so I said some things but who doesn't say stupid things when they're kids?! Besides, I didn't know Darien was my future DAD!_

Mama Ikuko sleepily strode over to her grimacing husband and pat his back. "I told you last night that Darien picked up Rini. In his car. Take deep...slow breaths before you pop a blood vessel, dear."

Papa Ken inhaled and exhaled slowly, just as mom asked. _It seemed to have worked...he didn't look like Artemis clawing his way through leftover seafood._ "If you say you were just meeting friends, I believe you Rini."

"I wouldn't go that far." _Uh oh. Mama Ikuko's didn't uncross her arms and her voice was completely devoid of sugary sweetness. She usually reserved that harsh tone of voice for Serena_. "With THAT out of the way...do you have something else you want to apologize for, Rini?"

"Uuuummm..." I saw Luna peeking her head out from under the table. _I wasn't sure whether she was scared I'd blab about my early morning sneak-out, or if the mere sight of Mama Ikuko angry was enough to terrify her. And then I saw Mama Ikuko's fingers were clenched tightly around the very phone she loaned me last night..._

"Serena's academic counselor called last night to tell us her grades took a turn for the worse." With the phone still in hand, Mama Ikuko uncrossed her arms. "I meant to share the message with you, dad, but somebody deleted it last night. And only one person used the phone since then..."

"As if Serena failing is news," Sam pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't interrupt me, Sam!" Ikuko shook whatever sleepiness was left out of all of us. _Deleting that message was SSSSOOOO not smart!_ "Remember what I said last night: dad and I are responsible for you when your parents aren't here. Serena started acting up around your age, Rini, and I didn't put my foot down hard enough. So until further notice...no going out, no TV, and no friends over unless dad and I say you can!"

"You're grounding Rini?" Sam repeated blankly. "I must still be sleeping!" _He, Papa Ken, even Luna and Artemis looked like their eyes were gonna pop out of their heads._

"Honey, m-maybe that's a...little harsh?" Mama redirected her bitter eyes to Papa Ken, cutting off the rest of his stammer. "So...we're not going to the mall tonight?"

"Oh, I totally forgot! Rini needs a new cell phone!" Mama Ikuko clamped her hands again, before she remembered which mode she was in and resumed scowling at me. "But only for emergencies, and don't even THINK about sneaking off! Now go to your room, young lady!"

* * *

"Maybe it's no big loss, Rini." Artemis followed me up the stairs, along with Luna, and tried to help me find the silver lining in the whole thing. "I know you had your heart set on visiting Hotaru and Trista again, but it's tough to get a hold of them these days. Even for us."

"It's hard for us to get in touch with ANY of them," Luna sighed. _That didn't help me feel any better though. Today was already off to a crummier start than yesterday..._

"It's just gonna be even harder to see everybody!" I moped at the top of the stairs. "It's just gonna be even harder!"

"I would trade places with you if I could, Small Lady." _I must be hearing things...that definitely wasn't Luna's voice. It was Plu!_ I couldn't believe my eyes when she appeared in Sam's room after giving his door a gentle push. It was really her! _Or rather, it was twenty-first century_ _Trista clad in_ _one of those stuffy business suits from this century she seemed to like a lot. And there was that big, warm, glowing smile she gave to few people other than me._ "I'll ask the future Queen if I can stay cooped up in your bedroom while you watch the Door of Space and Time!"

"I can't believe you're here!" I covered my mouth after the words just slipped out for everyone else to hear. _Mom, dad and Sam were all still downstairs...probably discussing Serena without me. I was bound to get Trista in trouble too if they caught us up here_ _._ But no footsteps came to interrupt Plu's warm embrace.

"I doubt you would have left Crystal Tokyo without paying me a visit." Trista smiled radiantly. _While Darien had his charms and Serena was...Serena, Plu was always my one constant. Whichever century was in, I felt like she was right here with me._

"Still a day too long," I peeked over my shoulder to the door behind Trista. "You didn't use some kind of time-cheat to sneak in without anyone noticing, did you?"

"OW!" _Amara's voice...sounds like she wasn't having the same luck_ _._ Amara tussled her sandy blonde, still short-cropped hair with a single hand after she banged the top of the window sill. With one leg hanging out, she tripped herself even more and landed on Sam's floor with a thud.

"Rini's not allowed to have guests right now, please don't get her in any more trouble!" Luna hissed. The grouchy Outer Scout just dusted herself off.

"Why not ask Serena and friends to pitch in so we can hire a ninja? Mich and I would, but full-time Scouting pays peanuts!" Amara's smug smirk fell off her face when she noticed me peeking out through the door. I sensed another 'you look like Serena' note coming on, so I interrupted her with a hug.

"Did you and Michelle miss me too?" I asked. I noticed that Amara held her arms out over me, as if I was just some random kid hugging the wrong parent. Her blue eyes wavered with confusion, even shock that I was touching her. _Maybe we hadn't been THAT close, but I thought we were friends by now._

"Of course we missed you, peanut." It took Amara a while, but she finally rubbed my shoulders with her hands. "Mind if I ask how future life's treating us?"

Over Amara's shoulder, Trista's face was all stony again, just like it was with every distant first glance at the Space-Time Door. Trista raised one corner of her mouth a little when I looked to her for 'permission': "a small hint is OK."

"Well...I gave a speech to ALL of Crystal Tokyo just before I came here!" I shared.

"You've got one up on me, kiddo!" Amara rubbed my head between my cones. "At least one other Sailor Scout takes her duty seriously."

"Amara..." Trista was back to looking and sounding grumpy again, but Amara didn't look the least bit phased by it. _I wasn't totally surprised...Luna and Artemis told me earlier that the Outer Scouts had to pick up the slack with the others going after THEIR own dreams. But Amara and Michelle had always been serious when it came to their missions. Amara might have felt the others were leaning on her and Michelle a little TOO much._

I wanted to get Amara back on a happier topic. "How about Michelle and Hotaru? Any chance they're in the neighborhood?"

"Why wouldn't you tell her?" Amara turned her shocked face back on and pointed it towards Luna and Artemis. _Both of them were giving her full-blown scowls, along with Trista._

"We thought we'd give you two a chance to explain that part." Luna narrowed her eyes at Amara even more. _Amara struck me as someone who didn't fear much, but she looked scared to tell me what was up._

"Come have a look, peanut."Amara lifted the window sill back up and nudged her head. There was Michelle across the street, chasing after a black-haired toddler clinging to a tree branch.

"HOTARU, NO! GET DOWN FROM THERE!" I couldn't believe the name that escaped from Michelle's lips as she tugged the squealing girl down from the tree.

"Michelle may want to say hi as well." Trista tossed a hand over the windowsill, but turned back to find my eyes pleading for answers. "I'm sorry, Small Lady."

"What made Hotaru this age again?!" _I couldn't wait for Michelle to get up here._ My eyes demanded answers from Amara NOW.

Amara snapped her eyes shut and clenched her teeth. "They filled you in on everything else. About Galaxia setting her sights on Earth, right? The four of us made a promise. That no matter what, one of us would survive...and defeat her."

"But you and Michelle came up with your own plan!" Artemis growled. _The Outer Scouts could be pretty stubborn when they thought Sailor Moon was being too soft or the rest of us didn't have it all together. That was nothing new..._

"Relax, snowball. I was getting to that part." Amara rolled her eyes, just before teal hair strands skirted through the open space in Sam's window. _There was Michelle, pulling her own head through, and swinging her snow-white legs over the balcony more gracefully._ Her ocean blue eyes also dilated at the sight of me.

"Oh, I didn't know you were here, Rini!" _Michelle greeted me much more warmly before, but she must have expected I'd be angry too._ Michelle's face darkened with one look from Amara... _that was all it took to clue Michelle in on what she was about to tell me._

"Michelle and I took a chance," Amara continued. Michelle's face seemed to grow more sullen with each passing word. "We thought that if our will was strong enough, we could use Galaxia's own bracelets against her. We didn't share with Hotaru or Trista...in case we needed to sell the deception. We were hoping it wouldn't come to that..."

 _Luna and Artemis just glared straight at Amara and Michelle. There was so much anger directed against them...I felt it from Plu, too._ "You tried to trick Galaxia into giving you two bracelets...so you could take her Star Seed?" I asked.

"We did, Rini." Michelle stepped in to continue the story when Amara lurched away uncomfortably. "When we saw the four of us were losing the fight against Galaxia, after the Inner Scouts had been defeated...we turned on Sailor Pluto and Saturn. We...offered their Star Seeds...as proof we switched sides."

"You...killed Hotaru and Trista?" I stepped back from Michelle when she reached out for me. _They threatened to kill Hotaru before, when she was possessed by Mistress Nine, but to kill her now? After we were all friends? Just how far would they go?  
_  
"We felt terrible about it, Rini..." Amara spoke more softly than usual, even with her face tilted away from me. "Not just because it was all for nothing. And not just because it was Sailor Moon who saved the day again."

"Why don't you borrow one of Plu's keys so you can go back in time and NOT stab everyone in the back?!" I spat at her and Michelle.

"I already asked," Amara grimaced.

"The four of us tried moving past it, but Amara and I saw the others were hurting on the inside. We went our own way for a time...we weren't there the next time Hotaru and Trista needed us." I heard Michelle gulp after I didn't say anything. "Everything we have done the past four years since you left has been to make up for our betrayal."

"You've got every right to hate us now, peanut." _I could have slapped Amara for calling me that. And for Hotaru._ "We did what we thought we had to. For our Moon Princess...for you and our future King...we would sacrifice all our lives in a heartbeat for - "

"IF YOU THINK WE'RE THE ONLY THREE WHO MATTER, YOU'RE WRONG! EVERYONE'S IMPORTANT!" _I didn't care if everybody downstairs heard me._ "Hotaru almost sacrificed herself before, but you two just threw her life away all over again!"

"Rini..." Amara fell to a single knee, as if I was my mother. "Don't count on the Silver Crystal to fix everything. It can't save every life, or heal every scar. The fall of the Moon Kingdom reminded us of that."

"I think she wants us gone now, Amara," Michelle whispered sadly. I sprung to Sam's window when I heard the front door swing open. _My heart jumped when I saw Mama Ikuko come out for a chat with Trista in the street, still clinging to a restless Hotaru. I wonder if mom recognized either of them...I hoped she wasn't warding Trista away for coming to see me, especially so early in the morning._

"Wait! There's another reason I called for you/" Luna stopped Amara and Michelle just when they were set to make their exit. "Rini and Serena shared some kind of a dream last night, about former subjects who served Queen Serenity. Subjects who might have become something more ominous."

"Spies...dabbling in evil magic," Artemis reluctantly finished. _No doubt he and Luna hoped those rumors about Queen Serenity were untrue, even after we found out she kept a dark shard in the middle of her own Palace._

"Awesome! That'd sure be easier than flying over some three-hundred-pound American rent-a-ninja!" Amara cheered. _They had ninjas in America too?_ Michelle just dumped her face in her palm.

"Be serious, Amara," Luna groaned. "I hoped Sailor Neptune's talisman could shed some light on this mystery."

Michelle unveiled the golden handle of her Deep Aqua Mirror, as brilliant and shiny as the day it first appeared. "Mysterious agents who served Queen Serenity...I see figures shrouded in dark robes, but no magic to speak of. Wait! I saw a flash of the Moon. But not ours..."

"Pluto's..." Amara and Michelle both stared for me to explain my murmur. "Is there anything else?"

"No. Just those flashes." Michelle raised the glass to her face and squinted, leaving the teal backside of her mirror facing me. "Strong magic conceals the truth from me, I can feel it."

"Are you sure that's all you saw?" Luna asked bluntly.

"Hey!" Amara barked. "She's not lying, furball."

"It's alright, Amara." Michelle flipped her mirror back around and kneeled just like Amara earlier. "You can certainly look for yourselves, if you like."

Luna and Artemis both stared long and hard at Neptune's mirror. _I thought about taking a peek for myself...Michelle wasn't the only one who could use it, after all._ But Artemis shook his head. "I'm sorry, Michelle. I believe you."

Amara trudged over for another peek through Sam's window. "I'm pretty sure we've overstayed our welcome. Let's book it, before we get Rini in trouble."

"I know you've had a lot on your plate lately." again, Luna interrupted their exodus. "Don't think your work goes unappreciated. Terms will be over soon. Then we can see about lightening your load."

Amara gave Luna a long, drawn-out eyeroll. "Cross our fingers the bad guys will wait for the Summer Scouts to come back on tour, sounds like a plan."

With one last gaze back to me, Amara plummeted out the window and made us wince with the loud thud that followed. I saw Michelle jump down after her, then drag Amara behind a tree when Mama Ikuko came back out to investigate the racket.

"Maybe Amara's suggestion wasn't such a bad one after all," Luna sighed to me and Artemis. With Hotaru in tow, Trista came running alongside the house when the coast was clear. _Hotaru...at least I still get to see you...even if you don't remember me, again._ I noticed Trista whisper in little Hotaru's ear and point up to my window. I did smile, waving back to the little toddler as Trista, Amara and Michelle tugged her along. _At least Hotaru was happy._ At least with that aside, I could put my mind back on business.

"Neither of you mentioned the bracer, or the dark shard we found," I pointed out to Luna and Artemis. Artemis also turned his eyes to Luna.

"Let's keep it between the three of us for now." Luna's suggestion had me mimicking Artemis' puzzled face. "It's not because I distrust Amara or Michelle. If Queen Serenity meant for the contents of her box to be kept private, I want to respect her wishes."

"Now YOU'RE poking around my room too, cuz?" _Oh no, that was Sam's head poking through the doorway! I didn't even hear him come up the stairs - Amara might want HIM to be our ninja!_ "Now I'm TERRIFIED you're becoming Serena!"

"Don't be silly, Sam! I was just so tired I stumbled into the wrong room!" What escaped my mouth next was a fit of nervous laughter worthy of Mina's. The hair on the backs of all three of their necks - _especially Artemis' -_ were stiff when I ran out of breath. "I promise I didn't touch anything."

"Eh...I just went poking through yours, so let's call it even." _GGGRRR SAM!_ "I just wanted a peek at that stand you used to have. I think it was light blue and gold, with wings on top? It looked like something my friend Mika would have made. I meant to ask where you got it?"

"Oh...my friend gave it to me," _I think Pegasus called it a_ _Stallion Rêve once. He used it to talk to me.._ _._ "But he...decided he wanted it back."

"That's not really fair. Even if you two had a fight..." I tried to keep the talk going, but I just choked up. _No._ _..don't start crying again_ _. I can't every single time someone reminds me of him..._ "Awww, cuz...whatever happened, if there's nothing left to be said, just...try and move on from it."

"He's not someone I can just forget, Sam!" While I tried to stop myself from going full Serena, Sam went fumbling through one of his drawers.

"Hey, so...I found this show that used to be all the rage before bashing it became cool, but I just started watching it - it's so awesome!" I was still sniffling when Sam closed his drawer. "Come on, cuz...I'm trying to cheer you up. If there's one thing Serena was better at, it's talking these things out. But give me a chance, here!"

"Mom said no TV, remember?" I reminded him.

"Yeah, I heard her: she meant no watching some clunky over-sized vacuum TV with antennas sticking out of the top and knobs!" Sam waved a small rectangle in his hand. "If this was nineteen-ninety-five, it'd be the end of your life!"

"Fine. I'm game." I plopped myself down next to Sam on his bed. _Something to get my mind of that dream wasn't such a bad thing._ "What are we watching?"

Sam gave me a goofy grin. _Boys._ "Just my kinda show: blood, and guts, and a bucket of drama! AAAAAANNNNDDDD...ZOMBIES!"

"WAAAAH!" I tumbled off the bed after a slobbering zombie threw its face against the screen. "Put something else on! I don't wanna watch that!"

"Oh, sure! I've also got the singing purple dinosaur show on here somewhere..." _You wouldn't be so smug if you had just lived that show yourself, Sam! But still..._

"Hey, Sam...thanks."

* * *

 **SEVERAL NIGHTS LATER...**

"LUNAMMPPHH!" _Yet another morning where my sleep - and breathing - were interrupted by a certain black cat landing on my face! At least she took the hint instantly and didn't bury her claws to cling on again._ "The first time, I could understand! But you know I've been sleeping here!"

"I panicked, sorry. We were worried about you." Luna's head darted to all the corners of my room, the ceiling too. Lying on my side, I noticed Artemis peeking around too. _What was going on?_ "Has anyone suspicious been tailing you, Rini?"

"No, I'm still grounded. Remember?" _I was still kinda mad at Mama Ikuko for not letting me hang out with the other girls last night. Amy was back for the summer - Mina, Lita, even Raye found time to meet at the teahouse with all the little sweets._ Orange rays of sun bounced through the window and onto my sheets before I tossed them off my bed. "What's with the wake up call? Everyone OK?"

"Those stories about Queen Serenity's spies...they were true, Rini!" Artemis's voice cracked... _with dread_. "We're not sure if they were reborn with the Moon Princess and the Scouts, or if they've somehow been alive this whole time. But they're clearly not on our side! All but one, anyway."

"We've only had a few hours to try to piece together what's happening." Luna dropped her head. "I still can't believe Queen Serenity would lie. There's got to be some other explanation...but in the meantime, we loaned him the bracer and the dark shard we found."

"Luna! You should have thrown out that stone!" I cringed at that illusion of myself torturing Helios. _At least I hoped that's all it was_.

"Queen Serenity kept it for a reason..." Luna hung her head. "Maybe she never meant for us to use it again. It was out of desperation, Rini...they've got us outmatched. But Artemis and I have one lead on who THIS particular spy might have been..and hopefully it'll prove I didn't just make a serious mistake."

"Hang on a sec, Rini!" Artemis called for me to halt after I swung out of bed and tugged my dress hanging from the door, with the compact still nested between my ribbon. "Stay here and keep an eye on Serena's family. We don't want you getting into any more trouble."

"So what if I'm still grounded?!" I threw my nightgown off and pulled my dress over myself anyway. "Like that even matters when the others are in trouble! Besides, what about Serena?" _I'd kept my word and not told anyone she'd been back in Tokyo weeks ago. As far as everybody else was concerned, she got delayed coming back from the States._

"She's...with the other Inner Scouts." Luna's eyes drifted from mine. "They don't know her full situation yet. There just hasn't been time for that."

"Please, Rini. We'll fill you in as soon as we get back," Artemis pleaded with me. "Promise."

I sighed approval, but the second they slid out the door I tugged my socks on and crept downstairs. _Even if the Inner Scouts had gotten back together, they might have been rusty after so much time apart and so little practice. If these ex-Moon Kingdom spies were as dangerous as Luna and Artemis made them sound, they'd need all the help they could get. And an extra pair of eyes in case this so-called friendly spy tried to stab us in the back couldn't hurt either..._

I went off to Raye's temple first. _She'd been trying her hardest to keep the floors scrubbed and fix the place up the best she could, but there were still tiles that slid off the roof and paint that was peeling off._ I made a run for one of the rooms that the girls used to sleep in when they stayed over. Sure enough, I slid the door open to find a pyramid of five sleeping bags. _They'd definitely been here, and they looked like they were coming back from the looks of it._ I found another pair in the room Darien had stayed in before...plus someone left a stack of old Sailor V manga lying around. _Yikes, I'd better remember not to call them 'old' to Mina's face._ But a quick run around the temple proved they had been gone, for a couple of hours maybe. _Should I just wait? No...let me think. What's the first place I'd want to show the new guy?_

 _The arcade!_

 **To Be Continued  
**

* * *

 **A/N:** Welp, good news and bad news! Good news is, I got a part-time job! Bad news is...I got a job XD, and it doesn't mean the end of job searching because the pay's not the best. My schedule's been pretty rough this week but hopefully I'll settle in...as long as I still have time for writing, I'll swallow it :)

I hadn't planned on a scene with the Outers, but I felt it wouldn't be right to just gloss over them in the "prologue" section of the story. Of course, Rini's grounding had to happen :P and I got to throw in a bit of Serena's dad, he seems to have his fans! This chapter's actually the first of a two-parter: it was going to be the first half but my rough draft came close to 9000 words. I know my first SoSM chapters were ridiculously short looking back, but 9000+ pushes the limit for me. So think of this as something to whet your appetites in the meantime :) I've got work in the morning :/ but part 2 just needs one more layer of polish so I'm aiming to release it by Saturday if not tomorrow afternoon US eastern time!

And so, next chapter brings us back into familiar territory - the next one has a scene or two you may recognize from SoSM, but don't think you've read it all before! Hopefully Part 1 succeeded at tiding you over in the meantime...now to bed before work! Hope you enjoy reading, and thanks for your feedback - especially now, it's been a real morale boost for me!


	8. Phantom Junior Déjà Vu

**Chapter 8: Phantom Junior** **Déjà Vu** **  
**

I high-tailed it over to the Game Center Crown just in time to find a strong older guy carry an unconscious blonde in his arms. _SHE wore Sailor V's trademark red hair ribbon, but I just knew that was no Tuxedo Mask carrying her!_ I had to pry the automatic doors open - _just as well, he would have heard me coming -_ but before I could yell at the creep to drop her, I nearly tripped over an unconscious gamer lying on the floor. _Everybody in the arcade just passed out...OK, maybe this was one of the guys Luna and Artemis were scared I'd bump into._ He confirmed my fears when he shrouded himself in a dark aura...a mere second later, I found myself staring at the back of gray and black robes with a hood pulled over his head. After leaning Mina up against one of the machines, a faint wisp of black magic escaped from his fingers after he snapped them once, a meager distance away from Mina's nose. Mina gasped for breath as if she had just passed out after being smothered by Luna too.

"This is your one chance to cooperate, VENUS." By simply opening his hand, pulsing cuffs of black and purple magic corralled Mina's wrists and ankles, pinning her to the wall. The robed creep's voice dropped to a whisper while he paced back and forth in front of her. "Don't waste my time denying it...we've been watching you since your solo escapades seven years ago. One of our Shadows, and one of his prospects, went missing. And you're going to tell me what you did to them."

 _Missing Shadows? What if the guy pinning Mina to the wall was the mystery helper Luna and Artemis mentioned earlier? Maybe he just played along until he could snatch Mina for answers to his own questions. My compact didn't give me the confidence it usually did...how much of a chance did I have against THAT kind of magic, without Pegasus' power?_

"OK, OK! I'll tell you what happened!" Mina went about babbling after peeking behind an arcade. _Probably hoping somebody else would come._ "I took 'em both head on and trounced 'em! That's just what I do!"

"You take me for a fool, Sailor Scout?!" The hooded guy... _the Shadow..._ spat in her face as he talked. _I couldn't just wait until he hurt her before I did something!_ "I said we've been watching you for years. Even you couldn't take down the lowest acolyte on your own, let alone the best of our recruiters!"

 _Being alone didn't stop Mina from coming to MY rescue! I had to transform! Hopefully he didn't hear me..._ with the cover of the arcade, I called out "Moon Prism Power!" more quietly than I usually did, and bathed in the pink magic that turned me back into Sailor Mini Moon. _Same all pink skirt, same dumb wand...but I still have a shot. I hope._

"Hate to break it to ya, but...well, it really was all me! I'm Sailor V, after all!" _Mina was lucky Artemis wasn't here...even at a time like this, he'd whine Mina still went bragging about her seven-year-old solo act. But I caught the Shadow's eyes peeping my way, so maybe she just saved my butt._ "There's a reason half the games in here have my face on them! Well, maybe less than half. Closer to a quarter, but still!"

 _I wasn't gonna leave Mina hanging on the wall all day, even as she'd gotten into bragging about her Sailor V days_. I crept out from behind one of the arcade machines with my wand, but then I noticed Sailor Moon herself lurking behind one of the arcades with the same idea. _It wasn't like meatball brain to try being quiet..._ but then I saw another Shadow in the same ragged outfit trying to sneak up on HER. _Same gray and black robes, same hood covering his face...but from the front, I could see he also had crescent moons on his outfit. They really were ex-Moon Kingdom spies, or at least they pretended to be._ Just when it looked like Shadow #2 was gonna pounce on Sailor Moon mid-rescue, I jumped into a tailspin and aimed my wand right for his face...

"Pink Sugar Heart ATTACK!" Shadow #2 just evaporated into thin air before my wand started playing that familiar tune. _I'd seen that move of his before..._ it was too late to call my attack off, and a steady stream of energy-shaped hearts pinged off Sailor Moon's face instead.

"OWWW STOP MINI MOON OWWW!" The Shadow that had been interrogating Mina took advantage of Sailor Moon's whining to blast her away with black-and-purple magic. _So maybe HE was the double agent, but he was still in cahoots with the other Shadow._ The one who tried to sneak up on Sailor Moon reappeared right beside her, so I planted my hands on my hips and launched right into my routine...

"I am Mini Moon, the champion of justice and togetherness! I am the future! But I fight evil here and now...and that would be YOU!"

"Mini Moon, don't! He's on our side!" Still pinned to the wall, Mina shouted at me mid-pointing. The other Shadow sure went along with the act, the way he swung his head back her way so quickly. _But they sure didn't look like the trustworthy kind..._

"Sorry Mina, but I saw him getting ready to stab you in the back! He played you like a fiddle!" I threw myself at Shadow #2 but he jumped out of the way this time, leaving me to tackle one of the Sailor V games instead. _Mina wasn't gonna be thrilled I broke it...especially since she didn't have the market share she used to._ But double-crossing Shadow #2 didn't roll far away from me. I lunged at him again and threw a Sailor Punch for one of his ribs, catching him off guard. He raised his arms to try and block me again, but I kicked him in the side of his leg to make him stumble, then backed him up against another machine for another blow. _This was almost too easy...either he was a total Shadow newbie, or he didn't think I was much of a threat either._

"STOP! WE CAN'T BEAT THE OTHERS WITHOUT HIM, MINI MOON!" Mina's scream provoked the other Shadow to clutch her throat. I hesitated this time. _What did she mean we needed HIS help?!_

"Just HOW has he been helping you?!" the other Shadow demanded. The one I had attacked earlier disappeared in another wisp of smoke, and reappeared behind the one choking Mina. Shadow #2 - _OUR Shadow -_ just grabbed the other's shoulder with his hand and electrocuted him with some kind purple-black magic electricity. The magic chains holding Mina just fizzled away and her torturer fell to his knees.

"Let's just say your recruiter could have made a better impression." _The Shadow on our side was concealing his voice too...he sounded like he had some kind of voice-changing machine to make it sound deeper. Except it didn't sound mechanical at all. He almost sounded like a monster...even more so than the one who was against us._

"You naive, misguided prospect..." the REAL traitor Shadow spat back at ours... _whoever the Shadow helping us was._ "These parasites would have you believe THEY were Silver Millennium. Do you really think they fought Chaos with no selfish intentions of their own? Or did they bribe you with the promise of table scraps?"

"You mean YOUR recruiter didn't drag you from a crowded restaurant before deciding he was just gonna kill you?" _So that's how our Shadow winded up siding with us._ "Fact is, the Sailor Scouts saved Earth. What have your pals done?"

"You slander us without knowing what YOU were part of a thousand years ago," the Traitor Shadow scoffed on the ground. "Dragged from the gutters of the Moon Kingdom by the silver-haired witch we once called our Queen. You repeat our mistake...offering her heir your puppet strings."

 _So whether those rumors from Earth were right or wrong...'right' guessing by all the dark magic they were throwing around...they came from the Moon Kingdom too. They were supposed to be on our side. But if Sailor Moon beat Chaos, what evil force turned them against us in the present?_

"I chatted with your recruiter before he tried gutting me." _Yeah, our guy REALLY didn't sound too happy about whatever happened last night. Not that I blamed him._ "What was all that about restarting Earth's history? How does getting rid of the Sailor Scouts help anyone?"

"Get rid of the Sailor Scouts?" The Traitor chuckled through his coughs. "I wish."

Shadow #2 traded a long look with Sailor Moon. _She was the one who rescued him from whatever the Shadows were gonna do to him. I just knew it._ Then our Shadow turned his his hidden face down on the other. "Tell us what they're planning, don't go back to the Shadows, and we'll let you go."

"And betray the true Silver Millennium's memory? Never..." The Traitor Shadow started cackling, then he just lurched up and kicked our Shadow into Mina. Before Sailor Moon and I could grab him, the Traitor clutched a strange pendant around his neck that enveloped him in swirling black and purple energy. He grew larger and larger, twisting in shape and size, until the magic surrounding him took the form of a dragon. Even if he looked like a big gas giant, the wings he fluttered about were real enough to knock over whole rows of arcade machines. The Shadow-Dragon hurtled towards us with a thunderous roar and shattered the whole arcade door when he flew through it.

"Charon?" I couldn't believe what Sailor Moon just called our new ally. "I don't suppose you know how to turn into a dragon, too?"

 _The Shadow that Sailor Moon rescued...the one helping us now...THAT was Charon?! It couldn't be...well, maybe it could, but he wasn't what I expected to find at all. OR the others had the idea of using that as a placeholder name until we knew who the child of Pluto's moon was. Now what do I call you, Death Phantom Junior? Unless, by some chance..._

 _Now wasn't the best time to think about it._

The Shadow-Dragon's thundering roar from outside snapped me back to reality. The four of us chased him outside and found him perched on the rooftop across from us. His yell accompanied with gas blaze blue fire spewing from its mouth.

"M-maybe it's like in the movies...if we stand really, really still he won't be able to see us." My theory was quickly disproved when the 'dragon' spat an enormous dark magic fireball straight for us. All of us scattered before the dragon's fire left a crater in the road exactly where we stood earlier.

"Maybe Venus could boost me up with her love chain?" He - _Charon -_ proposed.

"Good thinking. Keep him occupied, you two! Venus Crystal Power!" Sailor Venus took Mina's place in a flash. _Or rather, Super Sailor Venus...her shoulder pads were still fluttery, her back ribbon was longer, and her choker still had its star. Pegasus disappearing only affected me and Sailor Moon..._

"Hey! Motor mouth!" With Sailor Moon beside me, the Shadow-Dragon redirected his spiky-appearing head towards my taunt. "Remember us? How dare you - " _MAYBE Sailor Moon and I could have been a little more prepared for him to interrupt us with another breath of fire that singed the tail ends of our back ribbons._ "AT LEAST CHARON'S POLITE!"

"Speaking of Charon..." Sailor Moon prodded me towards the sight of Charon flying through the air on Venus' chain and landing on the Shadow-Dragon's back so he could use his evil power - _errr, or whatever he called it -_ to jolt him like last time. But instead, a counter-explosion of some kind sent Charon tumbling backwards into the side of the building, without the Shadow-Dragon so much as flinching _._

"CHARON!" I screamed out after him before either of the others. _He'd been thrown so high and tumbled completely out of sight._ _I hope he can take the same amount of damage we could as Sailor Scouts. But being a Sailor Scout wouldn't give us much protection if the dragon chomped down on us with the sharp-looking fangs he was showing off..._

"Why do we always get stuck with THIS part of the plan?!" Just like old times, Sailor Moon took me in her arms to carry me away from the lunging dragon chomping at us, though this time I felt the toes of my boots being dragged along the ground.

"What was the plan after he blasts our trump card away?" The dragon pulled away from me and Sailor Moon to take a few swipes at Venus, but she jumped away effortlessly. _Still, I had to wonder..._ "Why aren't we fighting back?"

The Shadow-Dragon just as suddenly turned away from us to flap his wings at the building Charon was thrown into earlier. The gust the makeshift monster unleashed was strong enough to shatter the windows. _I couldn't see Charon...but hopefully that meant he wasn't out of the fight._

"Here goes nothing..." Sailor Moon didn't sound too confident in herself when she retrieved her familiar pink wand and spun around at a dizzying pace before she struck her pose. "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" After kissing the palm of her hand, Sailor Venus sent her own orange heart to combine with Sailor Moon's gigantic pink one. Both their attacks were shattered by some kind of near-invisible magic shield protecting the Shadow-Dragon's back. All I saw was an ever-so-slight dark purple ripple. Unharmed, the Shadow-Dragon circled around with his mouth hanging open, but not to spew fire. _Like he wanted to laugh at us for trying._ ** _  
_**  
"Just like last time. Only dark magic takes down whatever barrier they've got long enough for us to actually hurt them." Sailor Venus had just enough time to squeeze an explanation in before the Shadow-Dragon nearly sent us flying away with another gust. "Oversight on their part, maybe?"  
 **  
**Then I saw why that Shadow-Dragon had been so focused on that other building earlier: Sailor Mars, Jupiter, and Tuxedo Mask came barreling out to give the Shadow-Dragon something else to spew blue fireballs at. He aimed a fresh one too high and it carved through the alley behind them.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

Sailor Jupiter leaped into the air and filled the sky with a flurry of green petals, accompanied by Mars' fire arrow and an arc of a half dozen roses thrown by Tuxedo Mask. _With that much firepower, SOMETHING was bound to get through!_ But I was proven wrong when Jupiter's shards whizzed around the Shadow-Dragon like a harmless breeze, Mars' fire arrow pinged off, and every single one of Tuxedo Mask's roses were burned to a crisp without even touching the monster. From there everybody just fell apart and scattered in different directions, stalling for time. _It had been so long since we worked together as a team...Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, none of the more experienced Scouts seemed to be giving directions._ I saw a wordless thunderbolt, crescent beam, then a fireball smack into the Shadow-Dragon with no effect at all. _There didn't seem to be much hope of wearing him down, either._ _Not before he wore us down..._

"Is Mercury's computer running on Windows Ninety-Five?!" Sailor Mars shouted to Luna, peeking out from behind Charon's building. "Tell her to hurry it up before we look like Serena's cooking!"

"VENUS! I NEED ANOTHER BOOST UP!" I breathed a sigh of relief when Charon came running around the side of the building, followed by Sailor Mercury, just when the six of us were getting close to our wit's end _._ _Even if Charon WAS just brought in yesterday, he ducked and weaved around easily enough to make me jealous._

"Let's give it another go!" Again, Sailor Venus threw Charon up and over the Shadow-Dragon with her love chain. Instead of landing on the monster's back, Charon threw several small-knife shaped dark magic shards the same way Tuxedo Mask had thrown his roses earlier... _except this time, I could see the Shadow-Dragon's near-invisible barrier fizzle under the barrage._

"That's our opening!" Sailor Mars held one of her scrolls between her fingers and tossed it into the air. "Mars Firebird Strike!" Then she interlocked her hands and shot a fireball in the form of a phoenix, hurtling it towards the Shadow Dragon.

"Jupiter...Thunder...Dragon!" Sailor Jupiter unleashed her own dragon-shaped storm of lightning. A last screech escaped the Shadow-Dragon's mouth before the Sailor Scouts' attacks completely disintegrated him. _There wasn't a trace of the original Shadow left._

"That's TWICE we almost got walloped!" The battered Sailor Jupiter kicked a rock down the other side of the scorched road. _If Amara was here, no doubt she'd be gloating._ "All they've gotta do is send TWO Shadows next time."

"At least we know we CAN beat them." The sweat trickling down Sailor Venus' forehead betrayed her upbeat tone. Her uniform was as tattered and torched as mine and Sailor Moon's. But that didn't stop Sailor Venus from winking at Charon's still-obscured face. "Turns out we make a pretty good pair, huh?"

 _Something told me Charon was blushing under that hood of his..._ but Mercury was frowning, Jupiter crossed her arms, and Sailor Mars looked like she wasn't quite sure how to react. _Maybe they thought Mina was getting too close to him already...he WAS about to get picked up by the Shadows from the sound of it, though he sounded like he meant what he said back there_. _I know Serena would want us to give him a shot._

"He didn't sound like some evil force was controlling him," Charon said out of the blue. _His voice was still distorted by magic, but he didn't sound nearly as menacing as he did inside the arcade._

"HE might have bought into their dogma, but that doesn't mean he's right, Charon." _Sailor Mercury didn't just sound wary...her voice was almost dripping ice water. Just like Sailor Neptune's._

"He also said he wasn't trying to kill us, but he looked like he was trying pretty hard!" Sailor Jupiter threw her arm towards the arcade to make her point.

"I know he didn't leave us a choice..." Charon's voice just trailed off without even finishing.

"What else could we do, besides give him a chance to reconsider?" Sailor Moon assured him... _if only to assure herself too. I knew she didn't like hurting other people...well, except when she bullied me and Sam, but that wasn't exactly the same._ "Even if they used to be on our side once, they're doing pretty awful things now. You said it all, back at the arcade."

"But I can't be the only one," said Charon. _He did sound conflicted about fighting others dressed like him...and I could see from the looks on everybody else's faces he wasn't winning any extra friends for it._ "I can't believe I'm the only acolyte who jumped ship when they started rambling about how freezing Earth would stop your closet-fascist Moon Princess."

"Maybe the others just didn't get a chance to come around yet," Sailor Mars sighed. "No offense, but we've seen others do some pretty twisted things with powers just like yours...and these Shadows aren't above torture or brainwashing." I saw Charon flinch a little when Sailor Mars narrowed her eyes at him, but I think Mars realized she went too far and backed off a little. "I'm telling you this as someone who wants to be your friend: we need to get on the same page here."

"I know the Shadows just came out of the blue last night and dumped all this history on you, and we've asked you to put a lot of stock in our reputation." Artemis jumped in beside him. "But we've always been the good guys. We wouldn't lie to you."

 _And of course, Meatball Head's stomach chose that time to start growling._ With a hand covering that bottomless pit, Sailor Moon started whining. "Must be rough for him trying to think on an empty stomach, I know it is for me!" complained Sailor Moon.

"Except that's ALL you think about even after you've stuffed your face, Serena!" Sailor Mars' complaint was interrupted by the grumbling of her own stomach. "On second thought...I wouldn't mind a bite, either."

"Pssst, Tux!" _Sailor Venus was the only one of us who wasn't rushing to get some grub, the way she cozied up to Darien. At least the faces of bystanders gathering their courage to peek at us kept her mind off the fact her videogames took up an even smaller share of the arcade._ "Mind if I borrow some roses to toss our adoring fans before we jet?"

Tuxedo Mask answered with a loud exhale. "First, bad idea. And second, don't call me 'Tux'."

"And that's why nobody makes video games about YOU!" Sailor Venus pouted and distracted herself with the growing crowd, waving and signing an autograph. _See, Mina? You don't need some stupid game show_. I might have thought I was back in Crystal Tokyo. _Well, except unlike in Crystal Tokyo, the whole gang was finally back together. Plus one...hey, wait a sec...WHERE DID CHARON GO?!_

"Hey! The new guy vanished!" I tiptoed for a peek into the crowd to see if he might have blended in with them. Mars, Mercury and Jupiter went into full panic mode too...but Sailor Moon just shrugged.

"Relax, guys. He's just a little camera shy." Sailor Moon raised the corner of her mouth at me before she filled me in. "He bailed from the crowd last night, too."

"You think he's only shy of cameras?" Tuxedo Mask teased her right back, earning him a gentle - _if uneasy -_ smile for himself. _At least Serena finally called him. Looks like Operation Save Darien and Dimwit's Relationship is working after all!_

"Yeah, well, disappearing on us doesn't do much for his case either." Sailor Jupiter growled. _It was time to bail. The crowd around us was getting a little too big for our liking...well, except Sailor Venus apparently, still chatting up her glory days to our fans..._

"...And the phony idol says "GGGRRR how can it be that my evil brainwashing waves don't work on you?! My slaves, attack the pretty, talented, beautiful guardian in the Sailor Suit - "" Venus was totally oblivious to Sailor Moon stomping over until she grabbed Venus' ear. An eardrum-rupturing "YYYOOOWWW!" followed!

"I'm running on fumes here! You did enough showboating in the arcade!" STILL dragging Mina by the ear, Sailor Moon led the other Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask in a jump for the rooftops, leaving the Guardian Cats to waltz around the streets largely unnoticed. _Maybe later I'd get to ask Luna just who 'Charon' was..._

* * *

Up top, I saw the back of some guy in a plaid shirt and blue jeans, similar build as Darien, looking over where we had been standing earlier.

"You shouldn't run off like that!" Sailor Jupiter shouted to the mystery guy's back with her own hands planted on her hips. I was a little confused at first, until I noticed part of the silver bracer we found in Queen Serenity's box peeking from under his sleeve. _That was Charon..._

"Sorry, just...the crowds." _Without magic distorting his voice, he was so soft-spoken. If the others hadn't pointed him out, I never would have guessed that voice belonged to Charon._

I pulled my eyes off him when Sailor Venus angrily cut across and tugged Sailor Jupiter's slightly larger forearm to hiss into her ear. "You mind cutting him a LITTLE slack?! He's pretty much been carrying us the last two fights!"

"He could still be a double agent of some kind!" Sailor Mercury whispered.

Sailor Jupiter wrung her arm from Venus' grasp. "Plus it wouldn't be the first time we fell for the cute guy trap, remember?"

"Say "two-timing" one more time, Lita!" Sailor Venus raised a gloved finger to Jupiter's chin while Mars and Mercury both shook their heads. _Now wasn't the time for another argument. We just got back together..._

"You said he was cute?" I asked them just to try and get their minds on something else, but Charon - _or whatever his 'normal' name was -_ did that for us when he swung back from the edge for a brief chat with Serena. His eyes were glued to the floor, like he was the one scared of us. But the closer he came, the more I could see... _yeah, I could see what Lita meant. Without his hood, I could see his skin was gently tanned, the same tone as Plu's. He cut his hair short...I think 'buzz cut' was what it was called? He kinda looked like Darien, not quite as tall but close, with dark brown hair instead of black, and brown eyes instead of blue. Hmm, maybe a younger Papa Ken would be a better comparison, or how I imagined Melvin would look without his glasses? Or maybe I shouldn't just compare how Charon looks to people I know._

 _But his eyes...they might have been brown compared to Hotaru's violet, but I caught a glint of the same sadness in them. At least, that's what I saw._ Charon cut his chat with Serena to a halt and shifted his gaze ever so slightly away from mine. _He'd caught me staring_. I opened my mouth to say something, but my throat went dry and no words came out. _It wasn't often I got tongue-tied like this._ I felt Tuxedo Mask press his gloved hand gently on my back.

"I forgot, this is Rini's first time seeing you without the hood. She might look a bit different to you, too." Tuxedo Mask took it on himself to introduce us.

I could feel Charon give me more of a lookover this time. _Now I was the one too shy to look at him._ But still I felt that twinge of disappointment when he directed his next comment to Serena instead. "The hair stays the same."

"I've been accused of imitating Sailor V," Mina winked at him. _Shadow or not, Mina still didn't waste any time 'getting to know' him._

"You met Serena last night. You think anyone would guess she's Sailor Moon, the way she acts?" _And Raye still never missed a chance to poke fun at Serena._

Again, I couldn't drag my eyes higher up than his waist. Until he asked, "so that's how you do it?"

"NO! I'm not clumsy, or careless, and I don't go poking my nose into everybody's business or cry over every little thing!" The words just came tumbling from my mouth, like they always did when the others brought up Serena... _but_ _I didn't mean to raise my voice at him._

"I didn't see her...I mean, I didn't mean to...sorry." Charon's voice grew quieter and quieter with each word until he clammed up completely. He just shrunk from me even though he was taller.

"What are you apologizing for?! So I'm a BIT of a klutze! And I still cry every once in a while..." _Of course, Serena's yammering cut off any chance I had of taking back what I said._ Soon the others started crowding around them before leaving me with Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask last on that rooftop.

"I didn't mean to yell at him." _Mina seemed to like him, so I spilled to her before they jumped off too._ "I just made it worse."

Sailor Venus gave me a gentle nudge. "You weren't shouting. He'll need more than a day to get used to everybody's quirks."

"It's gonna take US a while to get used to each other again, too." Tuxedo Mask brushed past a pouty Venus and dropped into the streets after the others. _Well, no better way to smooth things over than with food, right? At least maybe, just maybe, I'd get another chance to smooth things over later..._

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** And here's part 2! Part of it may be recognizable if you've read SoSM - or maybe not, it's been such a long time and that was part of the fun of revisiting it for me! One of the other reasons I wanted to write a prequel for Rini is, while "remastering" SoSM would be a massive undertaking, I still feel my first solo story had some rough edges. I got my start writing interactives with others, so taking up my first solo fanfic was a little scary. Hindsight definitely helps too. It so happens, Rini's first chapter in SoSM was one of my favorites. It's been fun rewinding certain friendships and revisiting the more world-weary Sailor Scouts.

Of course, I didn't get a whole lot of reviews and notes early SoSM - truth be told, I almost ended SoSM early and quit because I didn't think there was much interest in my first story. I'm sure glad I didn't quit writing now, but I still wonder what everybody thought of those early chapters sometimes. So hearing your thoughts about this chapter - and if you're new, who you think "Charon" might be ;) would be ESPECIALLY welcome for me :) Thanks for reading everyone, still re-learning to juggle everything with work but there's definitely more ahead!


	9. Rabbit and Turtle

**Chapter 9: Rabbit and Turtle**

 _Too bad taking our new friend to the Fruit Parlor Crown for a bite was out of the question after that Shadow blew a hole through the arcade and got the whole area closed off. Poor Andrew and Lizzie...I had so many memories in their_ _café and the arcade with all my friends._ _First Raye's Temple, then the girls themselves, and now both my other places...I was starting to hate change._

"I'll check on Andrew and Lizzie later...though I'm scared I'll be the one to deliver the news." Darien echoed my thoughts to Serena, both pacing together in front of me. _If there was one silver lining, it's that they were talking again. And now we had Amy back from Germany too._ "Who isn't having money trouble these days?"

"All the times we passed by this place and never went in. I wonder why?" Lita stopped the gang to peek through the glass windows of another café. _At least, I thought it was another_ _café at first_. _It looked like just about every other building in the area on the outside, but the inside had a nice 21st-century homey look about it. My only disappointment were the wooden chairs...no cushy orange seats._

Raye's wrinkling nose hinted she was a lot less happy about the inside though. "It's a bit outside my price range at the moment."

Lita fumbled through her pockets and tossed out a pile of lint. "And I thought I knew what being broke meant BEFORE cooking school!"

"Awww, don't be a barrel of soggy fish, you guys!" _I wasn't sure if there was even a quote vaguely like it, but that didn't curb Mina's enthusiasm as she draped her arm around Charon. I wish I could just go up to him like that...not once did he even turn around and look my way during the whole walk._ "We can splurge a little on our new pal breakfast!"

"Just one more week of ramen under a leaky roof, I guess." In spite of Raye's stomach disagreeing with her, she capped off her 'approval' with a deep side.

"We...don't have to...here." _Charon mumbled so quietly, I could barely here him from where I was even standing across from him._ "I'm not that hungry - "

"You might be the Moon Kingdom's very own James Bond, but you're gonna have to brush up on your lying JUST a little!" With both hands pressing into his shoulder, Mina practically shoved him through the sliding door. Serena followed with a harsh glare towards Amy, Lita, and Raye that froze them in place. Darien wasn't budging either...

"I get that you feel Mina's a little biased, and Serena's a bit too trusting." Darien then focused his attention on Raye. "We shouldn't treat him like a pest, though."

"You're right, I can see where my complaining gave him the wrong idea." Raye hung her head. _Not that I blamed her for pouting...the Temple looked a little better the last time I saw it but there was still plenty of room for improvement. If only she wasn't so stubborn about accepting a little help here and there._ "I talked to him a little last night. He seemed nice, if still on the quiet side. If he really was a spy in his past life, though..."

"He could still be a Trojan horse." Lita eyed Serena and Mina flanking Charon in the chairs next to him. _THEY looked comfortable enough around him. I mean, after seeing how strong the last Shadow was, why would they even need a Trojan Horse?_

"Do you know his real name yet?" I asked. _I noticed everybody still referred to him as Charon...but he must have gone by something else, right?_

"He keeps to himself, for the most part. Although...so did I, before I met Serena." Amy exhaled loudly just before Serena waved for us to follow her inside. _Hanging outside like this, Charon might have thought we didn't want to sit with him_. "I suppose we could take more of a middle ground...try getting to know him a little better while keeping our guard up?"

Lita wordlessly nodded with Amy in agreement. Raye tapped me on the shoulder just after our group followed through the sliding door.

"He did tell me his name last night. It's Logan." Raye whispered into my ear with a little smile. "Our secret until he decides to share, K?"

"OK!" _Yay, now I knew it too!_ _Logan and Charon...Charon and Logan...both names sounded like a natural fit for him. I envied Serena and Mina squished up beside him - as in, they looked so comfortable talking to him. Even if he looked like he wanted to squirm out between them at times, though that was probably more because of Serena..._

"Yoo-hoo! Come in, Space Cadet Rini!" Mina leaned over to wave her arm at me _._ I saw a waitress going back and forth between the table and the counter, probably putting their orders in. "Hurry up and decide what you're getting so we can all get breakfast ASAP!"

"I had to drag YOU away from that crowd, remember?!" Serena mocked her from Logan's opposite side. _His eyes were locked downwards the whole time. Did he know that I was sitting across from him, and was avoiding me on purpose? Or was he really just that shy?_

 _Well, nobody would mistake Mina for being shy, the way she went banging her fist on the table_. "I was picking up the slack, keeping the traumatized citizens at ease while the butt monkeys in blue took their sweet time showing up!"

"You...don't like cops?" _I wish Logan could switch with Serena, let HER dial down her voice a couple octaves so we could hear more of Logan actually talking._

Mina huffed loudly. "It's fun to show them up every once in a while, but to think: Artemis and Luna go ragging on US for majorly slacking off! Phew, sorry for that little vent! You were gonna tell me what an inspiration Sailor V was to you?"

"Uuuhhhh..." The returning waitress - and a universal groan from the other girls - interrupted whatever answer Logan was about to give. I couldn't stop myself from giggling when I saw Logan bury his face into the menu when she came back. He was so quiet that our waitress leaned into him and asked what he wanted again. That sent Mina scurrying over Logan's lap, snatching the menu out of his hands, and jabbing one of the lines with her finger.

"Our tourist friend wants the traditional breakfast, THANK YOU!" Mina shoved his menu back into the stunned waitress' arms. _OK, so Mina still got a little jealous every once in a while...she was like this with just about every cute guy we met, though. At least some things didn't change while I was gone._

All that was left was my order. _But Logan STILL wasn't looking at me...it was really wrecking my appetite._ "I'll just share with Darien."

"No you won't, you little vulture!" _Be happy for Serena and Darien...be happy for Serena and Darien...more so for Darien..._ "Order your own breakfast or bring your personal chef next time!"

"One thing about Lizzie waiting on us...she wasn't frightened as easily." Darien groaned after we noticed that our waitress had scurried off while we were bickering.

"So...errr...Mr. New Guy?" _If anybody was gonna take that awkward first step of trying to start a chat with Logan, it was gonna be Lita. She had the confidence for it, smiling and holding an open palm aside as if she were interviewing him._ "What's your story?"

The longest five seconds passed between Logan staring up at her, albeit with the blank face of a goldfish, and a single word squirming between his lips: "Me?"

"Yeah!" Lita's face still radiated enthusiasm, while Raye and Amy's heads bobbled up and down with approval. "I take it you've got one! You didn't just fall out of the sky when we needed you, right?"

"Why don't we...pick up where you and Mina left earlier?" Amy jumped in to give our chat a reboot. _No doubt Logan left us wondering if maybe he did just appear out of thin air..._

"Oh, I'm just...vacation." Everybody at the table leaned into him, waiting for the rest of his answer...but that's all he gave us. _This was gonna be harder than I thought..._

"Wow, you came all this way. Must have been a pretty long flight from the States." Raye's eyes rolled into the back of her head as if she was searching her brain for a way to keep the conversation going. "Anything in particular you wanted to see?"

"Or someone?" Amy brushed up against Raye's shoulder. "Like other friends? Family, maybe?"

"Or a long-distance GIRLFRIEND?!" _Mina got in on their act and shoved HIM into Serena's shoulder._ Serena retaliated with a tug of war using Logan as the rope, shoving him back into Mina.

"No, just...for me." Logan's mumble brought them to a standstill. "Just me here."

"Well, at least you're not touring the alien streets all by your lonesome! You've got your official entourage now!" Serena slapped him on the back so hard, she could have slammed his head into the table. _And SHE was his other best friend?!_ "As your tour guide though, I've gotta suggest giving us a name. ""Charon's" gonna draw a couple of eyeballs."

"Wait, "Charon" is spelled with a "C" and an "H." Isn't it?" Raye asked Amy.

"That's what Luna told me," Serena answered.

"I noticed you two pronounce his name with a "K"," Lita pointed out. "Like "K-Aaron.""

"That's how I've been saying it too," Mina chimed in. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's true, that if we were referring to the Greek mythological figure, his name would be pronounced with a hard "K" sound." Amy went on explaining to the rest of us. _She may be in medical school, but she hasn't lost her touch with everything else_. "However, the astronomer who discovered Pluto's moon wanted to name it after his wife, Charlene. Hence the "sh" pronunciation is customary among astronomers referring to it in English."

Serena slumped in her chair. "English makes EVERYTHING more confusing!"

"So, almost like we're calling him "Sharon?"" asked Lita.

Again, Raye furrowed her eyebrows to show she didn't approve. "Isn't Sharon mostly a girl's name? At least as the first name?"

"Yeah, but Raye is mostly a boy's name too, right?" _Oh no, Lita. I felt another argument coming...  
_  
 _And right on cue, Raye banged her fists._ "My name is NOT mostly-a-boy's name!"

"It's his name, why don't we ask HIM how he wants to pronounce it?!" Darien threw out his arms to cut off the argument, as he often did with me and Serena. But now there was an empty space in the chair between Serena and Mina...

"Not again," I groaned. _I didn't get in a single word the whole time he was here._

"I wouldn't have called him a chatterbox, but he's definitely clammed up even more," Lita sighed. "I think he hates us."

"He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who hates ANYBODY!" sparkled a cheery Mina. _I hope she's right, that if he's not paying much attention to me, it's because he just doesn't know me yet._

"We'd better hope so." _Serena became all dreary out of nowhere, just like before._ I noticed Mina frowning also.

"I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, Mina," Lita conceded. "I really do. But we've barely known him for half a day." _Still half a day longer than I did...time to fix that!_

"Where you off too, Rini?" Darien called me out when I swung my chair around to jump out. "Lady's room?"

"Not exactly..." _Lying was another thing I came to hate: I knew Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Sam would flip out if I told them I was Serena's future DAUGHTER, and Plu wouldn't want me to either, but I could at least be honest with my friends._ "I was wondering where Lo - I mean, where CHARON went off to!"

"He probably just went to the bathroom." Serena crossed her arms for a lecture. "He's gonna be ticked if he thinks we asked you to spy on him."

"It'd still be wise for someone to keep an eye on him," Amy insisted. _They thought I was on the opposite side._ _I didn't think Logan was a Trojan horse. I wish I could make friends with him like Serena and Mina did._

"So we're not gonna fill her in?" Mina's trembling voice came just when I caught sight of the back of Logan's shirt following our waitress towards the kitchen. _Uh-oh, I better ward him off before Mina notices._ With the girls' behind me staying silent, I decided to leave that conversation for later and took off after Logan. I felt as if a hand reached through my chest to squeeze my heart when I saw Logan pass her a card of some kind. _No way he was trying to pick her up! Not after I saw the Mina vibes earlier!_ I knew it couldn't have been what it looked sure enough, I realized it wasn't when I got in close enough to hear him...

"I hope your group realizes how lucky they are to have you." _That was a credit card in her hand...was he paying for our breakfast?_ "Even if they seem a little...you know..."

Even though there were plenty of people who might have seen me, I couldn't help raising a fist in our waitress' direction when she pointed her index finger to the side of her head and drew a couple of circles. _I knew what she was calling us!_

"A little..." I let my jaw drop too soon when I heard Logan AGREEING with her, though. Because then he finished: "but their hearts are in the right place."

 _Awww, Logan doesn't hate us at all...Mina was 100% right about him! He's so thoughtful, and nice, and he even wants to keep it a secret from the rest of us. I've gotta talk to him...or better yet, maybe I can do something nice for him too. Anonymously, of course, because that's what such a great friend does, although I'm kinda hoping he puts two-and-two together and figures out it was me because, you know...I want to be friends._

Another waiter brushed past me with a DELICIOUS-looking breakfast platter. There was a bowl of soup but there were also scrambled eggs, sausages, sliced ham, cereal, pancakes, croissants with butter... _and all of it went to just one person. Even Serena would have a hard time polishing THAT meal off. I heard Papa Ken talking about Americans a lot since he got the message Serena was flunking...one thing he said was that they LOVED eating. No wonder Serena wanted to go to California! Logan's waistline might not have been anything noticeable by our standards, but Logan must be malnourished for an American! He was practically starving himself to pay off our meals! I had to get him one of those Western breakfast platters!_

"Excuse me!" I tried flagging a different waiter down without drawing Logan's attention, but the first waiter just acted busy and brushed past me. "Hi, I'd like to get a - " _And the second one who came by just ignored me! At least in Crystal Tokyo, this didn't happen very often!_ A third one charged out the door, leaving me a glimpse into the kitchen... _and at another platter sitting unattended beneath a heating lamp. Technically it wouldn't be stealing if I left the money for it, right? At least Grandma and Grandpa were still leaving me allowance money, while being grounded meant I didn't have a lot to spend on._

Inching up on my tip-toes, I swiped the breakfast sampler plate from the counter and left a pair of crumpled bills in its place. _Now I just had to find somebody else to give it to Logan..._ or so I thought, before I saw Logan and our waitress make a turn for our kitchen from the corner of my eye. _Oh no, I couldn't let him see me! That'd spoil the surprise!_ Hiding in the corner, I ducked behind a waiter who emerged from the kitchen with four other plates on a massive tray. I saw the money I left encircled by three more plates... _and sure enough, Logan took interest in the misplaced money left sitting between them._

"Is..."toasted wad of money" a local delicacy?" Logan asked our waitress with a slightly more confident voice. _I hope I didn't make him look stupid._ "I don't remember anyone ordering that."

"Someone in the kitchen's playing a joke," the waitress complained. Meanwhile, the waiter I took cover behind didn't budge with the rest of the food, like he was waiting for them. _Oh no...all these dishes, including the platter I just swiped, were meant for OUR table! M...maybe I could just bake Logan a pie or something?_

"PSST! I found your missing plate!" I thought I might have been able to return the breakfast platter to the other waiter and he'd let me slip away without the other two noticing. But he must have been knew: he yelped at the sound of my voice and let the tray wobble in his hands. Two pairs of hands reached out to steady it... _of course, one of those pairs belonged to Logan._ I circled around the baffled waiter, still trying to keep out of sight, but I'd forgotten about the plate in my hands until I accidentally knocked another one off the counter. Logan took his hands off the tray to make a grab for the plate I just knocked down, leaving the two working in the diner to balance the large tray on their own. I darted abruptly to stay out of Logan's vision again but this time, I accidentally shoved the waitress...who dropped the tray and spilled four plates worth of food all over Logan.

All I could do was dare a peek at the back of Logan's ruined shirt. With both hands clamped over my mouth, I wished that I could melt into the floor before he realized what I did. That whole section of the diner had gone silent. _Any second now, Serena would come barreling through to laugh at me being the new klutzoid queen. Then I'd become the first person that Logan ever hated and he'd never speak to me again!_ The waiter swung his upper body around, nearly whacking me with his elbows as he went looking for me. This time, I jumped behind Logan and used HIM to shield me from everyone else as I tugged him towards a hallway leading into the back...and into the nearest closet. Trapped in the enclosed space with him, Logan's eyes could have stood in for all of Crystal Tokyo waiting for me to give another speech...

"Hhhhiiii!" I crossed my hands behind my back and gently dragged my foot along the ground horizontally. Even with the goofiest grin on my face, he looked at me without any expression on his face at all. _Maybe he didn't recognize me?_ "Uh - I'm Rini! From your table? Also, I'm Sailor Mini Moon."

"Y...yeah, I know," he mumbled quietly and looked around as if he forgot I was there. _M...maybe I shouldn't have reminded him I'm the one who attacked me earlier._ "Wh...why - "

"I...just..." _I could have just said I wanted to talk...but that wouldn't explain why I just dragged him into a closet! I needed to think of more of an explanation..._ "I wanted to clean your shirt! With my special power! That nobody else has!"

 _WHY DID I SAY THAT?! Even Serena would have come up with something better!_

"Oh, I...you mean, like how your uniforms, just...look like new?" _But now he was going along with it! What should I do?_ The commotion outside gave me the answer...

"Sure! Just...my power might work better outside!" _This was such a stupid plan, he was supposed to be an ex-Moon Kingdom spy but I just wanted the chance for him to get to know me!_ _  
_

* * *

"Really, it's...only a shirt," Logan stammered after I took his arm again and led him out the back, a good hundred steps away from the diner. "And my pants. And my shoes, kind of. Plus my whole upper body..."

 _Awww, I had to make this right somehow!_ Stopping him, I blabbed "that's what makes it special! It's YOUR shirt!" _THAT made me sound like an even bigger goof!_

"Yeah, I was always one of the special kids. So special, that my Kindergarten teacher wanted to hold me back a year." _He...I think that's the first full sentence he's gotten through without pausing or stammering ever since we beat that Shadow! He was actually talking to me!_

"Wow...I heard my dad say that American kids don't try as hard in school. So that's why? It makes sense, if being passed on to the next grade means your teacher doesn't like you." _Logan might still be in the same grade as me, then...he might still be in Kindergarten if there's no limit to how many times American teachers can hold them back._

"No...that's not...being held back isn't good." Logan squirmed again with his hands cupping his elbow. "I was...trying to be funny."

"Oh, THAT kind of special! HAHAHAHA - " _Wait, it's not nice for me to laugh, although it's not nice for me to NOT laugh at Logan's joke either! Even if I didn't get it._

Still completely soaked in breakfast, Logan reminded me: "you...wanted to?"

"Oh, yeah...my special power." _Looks like the gig is up. Unless...we've gotten lucky before._ I tried to...super-focus on Logan's shirt. _Come on...special power...SPECIAL SCOUT POWER, BANISH ALL FOOD AND DRINK FROM LOGAN'S SHIRT! Nope, no special cleaning power coursing through me._ With a loud gulp, I hung my head low and confessed,"OK, so you probably already knew since you've been following us on the news: I don't really have any magic cleaning power."

"I...well, I saw the other five on the news more often," Logan shyly admitted. _Well, that was a bummer!_ "I...don't know very much about you."

"HMMPPHH!" _I could understand the other four, but how come Serena's overgrown melon head was always shoving mine out of the spotlight?! Wait...I just stomped my foot in front of Logan. I've gotta stop pouting, or he'll think I'm mad at him again...or he'll believe Serena and think I'm just a brat._ I unclenched my fists, cleared my throat, and smiled. "I mean, it's no big deal. You've seen me before, you just don't remember! From what I heard, the supersized mirage of Sailor Mini Moon in the sky asking for everybody's help was hard to miss!"

"..."

"Four years ago?" _Oh no, don't tell me his memory's as bad as Serena's._ "Uhhh...OK, maybe you didn't see me, but you definitely heard me! My voice may be a little deeper now!" I cleared my throat and with a higher pitch, I called out "Moon Cosmic Dream Action!"

"..."

With Logan STILL not getting me, I wracked my brain trying to remember what else I might have said. ""Every dreamer on this planet, can you hear me? Darkness is invading our world?""

"You said EVERY dreamer? Wow...I got left out of EVERYTHING growing up!" _Poor Logan, no matter what I said I just gave him more and more to feel bad about!_

"Remember when the circus came to Tokyo? Or, maybe not, because a circus coming here might not be such a big deal on the other side of the world, but that was the Dead Moon Circus! And you remember when the sky went dark and everything was covered in spiderwebs in the middle of summer? That was the Queen of the Dark Moon, but you and everyone else with beautiful dreams gave us enough power to - " _Save Helios, and the rest of the planet. Helios...my heart still hurt, but...I just realized, I almost went the whole morning without thinking about him..._

"Oh well," Logan sighed. "Half the reason I came here is that ninety-five percent of all near-cataclysmic events start in Tokyo!" _What?! But the others just gave him the bracer yesterday! Oh, right...he was joking again._

"HEY!" _Uh oh! We'd left it too long...there was Lita, with the other girls and Darien in tow. And she risked tossing out all the goodwill she tried building up with Logan earlier with that grimace._ "What made you jet THIS time?"

"Leaving the diner was my idea, I swear!" I blurted out. With all of them staring at me instead, my eyes kept darting back to Logan to make sure he hadn't disappeared on us again. "I just...wanted to...show him around! And...maybe get him a new shirt?"

"I'm sure my honey bunch has a change of clothes for him," Serena sighed. "Can we worry about that later and eat? PLEASE?"

Mina, Raye, Lita and Amy all mumbled in disagreement on our way back. _All that progress just tossed out the window. Logan would never speak to me again now..._

"We've had a few close ones with Rini before. We're just protective of her." I overheard Darien reassuring Logan on the way back.

"I guess I see why you might have thought I kidnapped her," Logan conceded... _or I thought he was until:_ "I had to leave my pitchfork and take a gallon of eyedrops to keep my eyes from glowing red, but the other passengers on my flight complained I smelled like sulfur. I guess the food doesn't cover it up?"

Darien gave HIM the blank stare this time. Meanwhile, Serena leaned into Logan and started sniffing. "I didn't smell anything, though I'm not sure what sulfur smells like."

"We were all playing "Guess Your Name" before the commotion in the dining room. Nothing malicious there," Darien assured him.

"That's it!" Just outside the entrance back in, I leapfrogged ahead to cut in front of the other four - still bickering - girls. "Let's make a game out of it! We all get to challenge Charon and if we win, he's gotta tell us!"

All four of my other friends stopped to let Serena, Darien and Logan pass by. "It sure sounds like fun, Rini." Amy smiled. "And if Charon agreed, so much the better. Unfortunately..."

"We just don't have the time for playing games," Lita sighed. "We've got a lot of catching up to do before we're actually ready for the next Shadow. We should be training, just like Artemis and Luna said we should."

I shifted my plea to Mina and Raye, who hadn't said anything yet. "But the other reason we almost lost is we didn't stick together. We've been apart for so long that it almost feels like we're barely still friends, and that's why we don't feel like a team anymore."

"I...that's a good point, Rini," Raye conceded, following a heavy nod from Mina. "We thought we could just jump back in and look what happened."

"And we know we can't win without Charon - he's a part of our team, too!" _I knew I scored some points from Mina with that one._

Lita lightened up, followed by Amy. "You win, Rini...IF you can get him to say yes." _Our food - well, the replacement dishes anyway - was sitting at the table for us._ That wasn't all Serena looked cheerful about, though...

"You guys, I have big news!" Serena clapped her hands when we came in. Logan returned from the bathroom's direction, having washed as much food from his shirt as he could, though he was gonna need a new one for sure. Darien scooted over so Mina could sit next to him. "Charon and I made a deal: if we beat him at any game of our choice, he tells us his name!"

"HEY!" I jumped up on the table on all fours to glare at the thief. "YOU STOLE MY IDEA!"

"DID NOT!" The immature dunce stuck her tongue out at me. "YOU copied that idea from that wacky warpzone gamemaker who almost trapped us in another dimension!"

"GGGRRR!" I snatched a piece of toast to fling at Serena's ugly mug...but then I remembered Logan sitting right next to her, watching my antics. So I slid off the table, sat properly, and nibbled on my toast.

"I call first dibs!" Again, Mina corralled his arm like they knew each other for years. "I hope you like videogames! I can't wait to race you - "

"Uh, Mina...I don't think that crater in the arcade has been fixed yet," Raye solemnly reminded her.

Mina planted her elbows on the table and held her face up by her chin. "Oh yeah. Stupid Shadows!"

"My mom's working. If you wanted to drop by my place first, I...bought the home console version," Amy shyly proposed. Only Logan didn't jump from his seat, though even he followed suit. _NOBODY expected Amy would even have time for videogames._

"YOU bought a console? Was it to keep your boyfriend amused?" Lita nudged Amy, making her blush.

"AMY!" Food on the table be darned, Mina dashed beneath the table to grab Amy by the shoulders and violently shake her. "Do you have any idea how much money you could have saved me if you had told me sooner?!"

"Or you could have saved for your own console!" Raye fumed.

"Well, she's a little closer." Our waitress came back to check up on us. I tried hiding as much of my hair as I could by covering it with my arms while I slipped underneath the table. "Someone very generous with saint-like patience paid your bill."

"GET OUT!" Lita and Raye shouted together. "NO WAIT, COME BACK! WHO WAS IT?!" They both shouted after her again after she misinterpreted them and bolted from the table.

"It must have been a guy!" Lita whispered to Raye. "Which one of us do you think he's trying to pick up?"

"Let's find him first! You've got hunk lookout on this side, I'll peek on the other!" Raye clambered underneath the table and propped herself up on Serena and Logan's shoulder. "'Scuse me, Charon!"

"It's a start," Darien sighed. _Raye and Lita didn't seem to consider that it might have been Logan who paid for us...even Serena, Mina, and Amy were in on the act of looking around the dining room for our mystery patron. I wish I could have told everyone how nice Logan really was...but he wanted to keep it a secret, as much as he was holding on to his real name. Hopefully, the other girls would realize both with time..._

* * *

""Go easy on me, I'm new!" I can't believe I fell for the oldest trick in the book!" Back at Raye's temple, Darien - mostly joking - threw down his cards and played the sore loser.

"You rock, Charon!" Cheering, Lita pat Logan on the back...though the time between pats grew as Mina glared at the both of them. Retracting her hand, Lita winced "errr...I mean...good play."

Mina's flare of jealousy subsiding, she eventually perked back up. "It's your fault for assuming he meant he was new to CARDS, Darien!" She's been a good sport about losing to him in Amy's room... _though we all suspected she might have let him win._

"I demand a rematch!" Darien jumped to his feet. "How about some hand-to-hand practice with the ex-Moon Kingdom spy!"

"Errr, I...don't wanna see you guys wailing on each other," I admitted.

"I...don't really remember any hand-to-hand," Logan told Darien. "I...kinda taught it to myself, after I got picked on. Some bullies...they only respect you if you stand up for yourself." _I wasn't sure I believed that. I could see the disapproval in Serena's eyes too. But even in Crystal Tokyo, there were a few kids who teased me, saying I didn't look like the future Princess and daring me to use the Silver Crystal on them. So I could understand where Logan was coming from._

"Come on Darien, Raye gets her turn next!" cheered Lita.

"Oh, I...already know his name," Raye boasted to the others in a less-than-boasting tone. _I was so proud of Logan, he was getting along so much better with everyone! And I helped give him a little nudge in that direction._

"What?! You told her and not me?!" _OK, maybe he and Serena just took a step back._ "I thought WE were best friends, you traitor!"

"You know, maybe his parents are famous Hollywood celebrities who embarrassed him by giving him a weird name!" suggested Lita. "Something like "Egregious Pontificator" or "Rock Solid.""

Mina thoughtfully placed a finger over her lip. "I should write those down, in case haven't been taken by the time I become a star!" I dropped my head along with Lita's. _Oh Mina, if you have a daughter - or a son - please give her or him a nice name. Like...something-miko._

"At least if we all lose..." A smile stretched across my face again. "I've already picked out a name for him."

"Oh, what would that be?" asked an amused Amy. Just like at the diner, Logan hid behind his cards. _Hopefully he didn't think it was mean..._

"At breakfast, he reminded me of a turtle popping his head in and out of his shell!" I teased.

"That's adorable! PLEASE say we can name you "Turtle!"" Mina playfully nudged him again, even as he still retreated behind his cards. "Aww, we're just teasing, Charon!"

"Well, if Raye's skipping, next bout it is!" Darien motioned for Logan to follow him. "Don't worry Raye, I've got just the right room in mind!"

"Well, at least he's got another guy to hang out with now," Raye happily sighed. "Boys and their rough housing." But no more than a second later, we heard somebody's back being thrown into the ground outside.

Though it made me jump, Serena just chuckled and called out through the sliding door: "Couldn't hold your excitement for another minute, Darien?"

"NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" At the sound of Michelle's voice outside, we dashed out just in time to see a ball of light blue energy headed straight for Logan...

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry to keep you guys waiting, work's been cutting into my free time quite a bit since I've been called in a few days I was supposed to be off. I'd originally planned on this Chapter being the last one in case there's any confusion: after breakfast, the girls would have gone to the arcade, we would have visited another perspective, and The Shadows Beckon would have ended...possibly with another peek at Helios. But talking it over with a friend, I wanted to revisit a certain crucial moment in SoSM through another character's eyes, and I felt it would give more closure for Rini's story while leading into SoSM better. So Rini gets to be our leading lady for an extra two chapters :) Whether or not you've read SoSM, I hope you'll enjoy the run!

 ***Minor SoSM spoilers below***

One big treat of Rini's story has been revisiting Logan's personality and recasting him as another character in somebody else's story. When I first came up with SoSM, I saw him as a blank slate: almost like the player character in a videogame. He didn't have much of a backstory back then: the real reason we didn't get the name "Logan" until Chapter 5 is I hadn't decided what else to call him yet. Now I can picture him as if he was a character on the show, and since he shares some of my introverted traits...trying to picture what he looks like to one of his more outgoing friends was a fun experiment! Logan's friendship with Rini too, was such a defining part of SoSM for me yet I felt I glossed over a lot of their early friendship. It was fun for me to re-envision them having a much more awkward start (plus throwing flirty, still-doesn't-have-a-boyfriend Mina back into the mix!) thanks to their different personalities and quirks. I hope you enjoyed it too!

 ***End Spoilers***

Chapter 10 is SO close to being done, guys - I originally planned on releasing it with this chapter as a two-parter last Friday! I've got work the next three days, plus I've officially been accepted to grad school and have some foundation courses to complete before Fall, but I'm hopeful Chapter 10 will be here by Saturday! Excited for your notes and reviews, as always!


	10. Leopards and Their Spots

**Chapter 10: Leopards and Their Spots**

"NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!"

"WAIT, MICHELLE!" Darien waved his arms madly trying to ward her off, but he was too late: Sailor Neptune's planet-shaped orb already escaped from her hands. Darien didn't even hesitate...shifting to one side, he just threw himself in her path and was tossed over Charon's head before plummeting to the Temple grounds.

"Darien!" Serena was at his side in an instant. Joining them was my first instinct too - until I noticed Sailor Uranus lay next to Logan's leg. _That crash we heard earlier was the sound of Logan throwing her into the pavement...but she'd never let herself be defeated that easily._ Sailor Uranus summoned her talisman into her hand before taking a swipe at him with her Space Sword. He dashed away fast, and his gray-and-black Shadow robes materialized around him in a blinding flash...but Uranus' talisman was now glowing. She created a swirling gust around herself that threatened to blow the rest of us backwards, then she raised her sword up high to create a growing orange planet-shaped orb of her own.

"Space Sword Blaster!" With her mini-planet swelling on top of her sword's sharp tip, Uranus pointed it at Charon and let it fly. Her singular sphere multiplied into several, then the rings around them came flying off. A wave of crescents came flying towards him...but Charon just stood there in place. _Why wasn't he moving?! He couldn't count on the same magic defense the other Shadows had!_ And then I realized...he had his back to Raye's temple. _He was going to take the blow..._

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" As bad as I felt for Raye, I couldn't be more relieved when Venus' heart-shaped links wrapped Charon's legs together and yanked him to the ground in the nick of time. Uranus' crescents flew right over him and turned the wall he meant to shelter into splinters. _Poor Raye..._

"What are you doing?!" Serena's snapping left the pair of Outers even more bewildered. A gloved hand covered Neptune's mouth as she watched Darien wincing on the ground. _I sure hope he's OK._

"What are WE doing?!" Sailor Uranus still clutched the golden handle of her sword tight as she fixed her eyes on Sailor Venus, the only one of us who had transformed. "Why throw yourselves in front of that traitor?"

"So you know about the Shadows? HE'S our ticket to beating them! AND he's our friend!" Sailor Venus matched Serena's tone. "Didn't you get Serena's memo? You two SERIOUSLY need to check your phones more often!"

"Oh, I...thought you already messaged them." _Of course, Serena was totally clueless._

"WHAT?! I haven't seen them in AGES?!" _And Venus went at it with her again.._. "You're supposed to be in charge, remember?"

"But YOU'RE supposed to be running the show while I'm not here! I was halfway across the Pacific! Just saying!" _You didn't get back THAT recently, Serena! Wait...the others didn't know that yet, did they?_

"Well..." _It wasn't that often you heard Charon sigh so loudly._ "If any intergalactic Scouts hit us up for rocket fuel after they came all this way just to kill me, I'm not paying them back!"

 _Hmmm, I just assumed the Starlights used Sailor Teleport to go back and forth. I never asked if they had their own spaceship - oh, right. Another joke._

"We don't need extraterrestrial help returning you to your crypt, Benedict Arnold!" Sailor Uranus flicked strands of hair away from her face and spun with her arms spread apart. "Protected by the planet of wind, I'm Sailor Uranus and I will blow you into the dustbin of history!"

Sailor Neptune mirrored her partner's graceful movements: "protected by the planet of the oceans, I am Sailor Neptune, and I will cast all of you snakes into the sea!"

"It's another misunderstanding!" I cut in front of the pair, thinking they might try to strike at him again. "If he was one of the bad guys, he wouldn't have let you finish your speeches!"

"If that were true, we'd be doing him a favor anyway." Uranus' voice fell to a whisper before she lifted her head to address the other Scouts behind me. _Raye, Lita, and Amy had kept quiet throughout the whole thing._ "He's a knife just waiting for his pals to sink him in Sailor Moon's back, and some of you realize that. But he's not worth the risk. We've got our own plan...and it's bound to work if you help us."

"So you're letting us in on the plan this time?" Raye leveled a bitter tone towards them... _though she seemed more open to what they had to say_. _As much as they had changed, I knew they'd never go along with offing Logan if THAT was there idea. At least, I hoped so._

Sailor Neptune slipped a peek at the glass of her Deep Aqua Mirror before she took up answering. "We didn't want to believe the Shadows existed, either. The idea that Queen Serenity would permit her spies to use dark magic, let alone enable them...it sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman. But we also knew Queen Serenity never would have done so without...a second failsafe." I caught Neptune's eyes drift towards Charon's bracer before she quickly noticed mine and pulled them back. _Was that what the bracer was for? To keep Charon from becoming another Wiseman? But how did it work, then?_

Sailor Uranus quickly picked up the rest of the conversation: "Michelle and I found just that. Queen Serenity left us an artifact...a siphon of some kind...that lets us channel our energies THROUGH the Shadows themselves. Their dark magic has some kind of adverse reaction to the Silver Crystal...with the right focus, we could burn them from the inside-out before they could lay a hand on us. Those magic barriers of theirs wouldn't protect them from THIS."

"That doesn't sound like a trap at all!" Without knowing any better, Uranus and Neptune's eyes nearly popped out upon hearing LOGAN - of all people - being the first to 'cheer' on their idea. "I vote we activate the weapon of mass plot convenience your out-of-character Queen had the foresight to leave for us!"

"CHARON?!" _Yup, Lita missed it too._ "Did you miss the part where it fries YOU from the inside, too?!"

"No, he didn't Lita." _Amy got the joke, I could see that the way she buried her hand into her face._ But for the others, she added: "He clearly meant that as a joke."

"OH!" Venus nodded thoughtfully while pressing her finger into her chin. "Wait, what was the punchline?"

"UGH!" Sailor Uranus retook hold of the conversation with her grimace. "You can mock us and play mind games all you like, but try weaseling your way out of this!"

Sailor Uranus raised her arm to launch her other attack, but Serena threw herself in front of Charon before she could say a word this time. I heard Darien fumble back to the ground when he tried to stand, still clutching his side and still soaked by the oceans of Neptune. Amy, Lita and Raye all rushed to him... _though I got the feeling they were also trying to keep him out of the growing feud..._

"There's no way that Queen Serenity played any part in making this Siphon!" With her hand over her heart, Sailor Moon lit into them. "Our way might be harder, but Charon proved that we can beat the Shadows without it! We're not sacrificing him, or anyone else who might not want to fight us!"

Sailor Neptune lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Serena...taking on the Shadows one at a time isn't a strategy. They know far more about us than any enemy we've ever faced before, yet they hate us just as much. We only have one trump card."

"I get it...we can't count on any more of them to switch. But still...this is pretty harsh," Lita wavered.

"Then you have one alternative." Sailor Uranus glared at Charon. "Seal him away, in the farthest reaches of Space-Time. You'll spare him, and he won't be a danger to us."

 _I couldn't let them do that either...he'd be like Death Phantom Junior, trapped in a state of...nonthingness. I saw what it'd be like when I got lost without my Space-Time Key on me...I couldn't let them do that to him!_

"MOON COSMIC POWER!" Taking Serena's place, Sailor Moon took Charon's hand and made a point of the Outers seeing it. "You just don't understand me at all, if you think I would choose either!"

 _For a second, I thought Serena had gotten through to Michelle, but her face went stiff as a block of ice again._ "I always respected your position, Serena. But this time, you're completely out of touch with the situation we face. The others see it too."

"Moon Prism Power!" _If Raye, Amy and Lita wouldn't stand next to Charon and Sailor Moon, then I would!_ "You said you felt bad about what you did to our friends! But you're back to your old selves again!"

"Either you're prolonging his suffering, or you're setting him up to cut our throats later." Uranus directed the rest of her address to Amy, Lita and Raye. "We already lost Queen Serenity. We won't let the same thing happen to her...no matter how much she comes to hate us for this. I know you would do the same."

Venus also jumped to our side when Uranus brandished her Space Sword again. "If you won't take care of Charon, then we will! No warning shots!"

"It doesn't need to go this far..." Raye mumbled from the sidelines...

"We don't do warning shots either!" I was kind of frightened when Venus marked the start of her attack with a small pair of crescent moons appearing in thin air. _We were really gonna do this..._ "Venus Crescent Beam!"

Sailor Uranus dodged Mina's directed beam of light. _It was her weakest attack, but it still made her point._ "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!" Uranus launched another vicious wave of crescents at the four of us. I saw Sailor Moon tug Charon back towards her after the dust cleared, holding him behind her.

"You're not giving yourself up!" Sailor Moon tussled with him, gripping his wrists.

"We've gotta get in there!" Raye lifted her transformation rod, followed by the others. _But whose side was she getting in on?_ "Mars Crystal Power!"

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power!"

"Don't, Rini..." My Pink Moon Stick faced off with Sailor Neptune's Deep Aqua Mirror. _I couldn't tell whether she genuinely didn't want to hurt me or was being condescending...maybe the former, but I didn't care_. _I used to think she and Amara weren't as bad as they seemed, but not anymore._ Just before I defied her and called out my own attack anyway, the skies turned dark overhead and the whiff of fire tickled my nose...

"Supreme Thunder Crash!"

"Mars Fire Blast!"

An arc of electricity and a spiraling cone of fire whizzed right by me... _and reached for Sailor Neptune._ She barely leaped out of the way in time, leaving an unsuspecting Sailor Uranus wide open...

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Sailor Mercury made her side clear too by launching several streams from her globe of water at Sailor Uranus. Without Neptune blocking her way, Uranus was left dodging most of the streams before one caught her. Amara was engulfed in a larger globe of water that burst. Like Darien before her, a soaked and shivering Amara crumpled to the ground.

"AMARA!" Sailor Neptune nearly cast her mirror aside, letting it fumble in her hand before catching it with the edge of her fingertips, running to Sailor Uranus.

"It was still too far..." Sailor Mercury's words were heavy with regret, though they were returned by a pair of venomous stares. "We're sorry."

"Damn you!" Uranus' fit of coughs failed to conceal her own anger. "If Sailor Moon...ordered you to shove her off a cliff...you would do it!"

"That's not what this was about!" Mars cried.

"Charon deserves more of a shot than you're giving him," Jupiter concluded. _And to think, I thought they were gonna go with Uranus and Neptune's plan for a minute._

"Leave it, Amara!" Sailor Neptune pushed her defiant companion back to the ground with a single hand, until Amara's complaints reduced themselves to whimpers, then silent acceptance of being carried down Raye's steps. The teal-haired Scout stopped for one last icy stare at Sailor Moon and Charon. "You made your point, Serena. We'll hold off, for now. I hope this chameleon was worth it."

"First impressions really aren't our strong suit," Sailor Moon sighed to Charon after Michelle disappeared with Amara in her arms. At the sound of Darien stumbling again, Mercury and I both lifted him upright on our shoulders.

"Thanks for...back there. My name's Logan, by the way." Logan left me with a wide grin on my face after he shared his secret with the others. _The first of many, I hoped, now that we could finally be friends with each other._

Sailor Jupiter, though, marked his long-awaited answer with a raised eyebrow instead of celebrating. "Is it really?"

"Y-yes!" Logan stammered.

"No sarcasm? Cross your heart?" Sailor Mercury was smiling JUST a little bit.

"I don't have my birth certificate on me, but that's what it says!" _Ha ha, now Logan was the one who looked a little confused!_

"I dunno..." Sailor Moon was also smirking. "Maybe we should play it safe and stick with 'Turtle'."

"Fine! Then I'll call you "Meatball Head!"" Logan triggered a long growl from Sailor Moon. I was the only girl who didn't try to cover up my laughter.

"OK, OK! Logan it is, then!" After mock-waving her arms around, Sailor Moon's face got about as serious as it could possibly get. _Which wasn't very much._ "Wherever Luna and Artemis now, I hope they found Plan C..."

* * *

"I...think we have...some good news!" Panting for breath, Luna came scurrying back with Artemis. "An abandoned...Shadow hideout...in the forest!"

"How do you know it's abandoned?" asked Logan. "They're in the middle of the forest. Maybe they got sick of digging up real worms and went into town for gummy ones. Or they tried calling the pizza guy but couldn't get reception."

"OR, since the last two Shadows were in decent shape, it's probably a trap." Raye sighed. _Logan said he'd dial his sarcasm down a notch...but just one._

"This underground cavern...belonged to the head researcher. The Shadows' Spymaster." Luna answered. _Spymaster...creepy name._ "Their leaders were appointed by Queen Serenity herself, including the first who would have assumed the role when the Shadows turned to dark magic. And only the Spymaster himself would have access to THIS lair."

"So you think I can sneak you and the Sailor Scouts in with me?" Logan asked. Luna assured Artemis with a nod after he turned towards her with hesitation.

"Logan, you said you started having dreams about Silver Millennium the week before you came here. That bracer we gave you...it fit like a glove." Artemis shared. _So that's what led Logan to us._ "We think somewhere along the line...you were that Spymaster."

Struck by as much disbelief as we were, I could see Logan processing their words behind his closed eyes. "So I dreamed of a woman in silver hair...and someone who looked like Serena in a white dress. How does that prove I was somebody important?"

"Because if those were dreams of your past, they prove you knew our Queen and the Princess personally. Few in the Moon Kingdom...even the Palace...could make that claim," Luna explained. "Hopefully, a jog in the forest will jog your memory."

"Hang on! So he wasn't just some run-of-the-mill Shadow?!" Lita interrupted. "He was their boss?!"

"That could make beating them easier," Logan smirked Lita's way. "I'll climb Tokyo's highest mountain and then, while you fire off bolts of lightning behind me, I'll raise my arms in the air and proclaim: "SHADOW FOOLS! THE GODDESS OF THE MOON HATH CROWNED ME THE KING OF SPIES! KOWTOW BEFORE ME AND BEG FORGIVENESS!""

"Spymasters didn't get crowns, sorry." Oblivious, Luna started correcting him. "Besides, the Shadows wouldn't let you get a word in before - "

"He's not serious, Luna." Amy pinched the bridge of her nose. _I heard Amy grumble that sarcasm was the "lowest form of wit" earlier, though she never said it to Logan._

"Logan, I know everything I've told you sounds like pure fantasy, but it's all true! The Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity - oh." Luna's ears and tail dropped. "Logan, it's good that I didn't have to train you and Serena together. Between her immaturity and your sense of humor, I would have crawled back into my stasis pod!"

"I knew he was being sarcastic!" Serena stuck her tongue out. "Look, we've got a bigger problem..."

"Two other Sailor Scouts came by earlier to describe dark magic as a mini nuke hidden in every Shadows' chest...and they're holding the detonator!" Logan declared.

"Not quite how they put it, but I guess that's how they described their Siphon," Amy sighed.

"Not only that, they think Queen Serenity kept it in her back pocket," Mina added to the explanation. "I already had to suppress my disbelief over dark magic spies, but now this?"

"Close, Mina. So close...but I agree," Luna nodded. "The timing's way too suspicious. Even if I'm still trying to piece together what her EXACT relationship was with them...Queen Serenity would never collar her agents like this. That makes it even more important for us to crack open the Spymaster's vault...it's bound to be a treasure trove of information."

"Yipee! Field trip!" My inner kid danced right back out. "It's been AGES since I visited the forest!"

"Nuh-uh! It's back to your tunnel for you, Grounded Hog!" My glowing red face darted away from Logan's direction... _I just KNEW he was staring at me. The others too...sure, they had some hint Mama Ikuko didn't want me out of the house, but they hadn't pushed me for the reason WHY before. You were the whole reason I got grounded, Serena, and THIS is how you thank me for it?!_

"That's the best you could come up with? "GROUNDED HOG?!"" I spat back. "No wonder you just parrot "flamingo" and "fungus" and "shrimp" over and over! Your new names are even worse than your grades!"

"Errr, maybe the old Serena," Raye corrected... _or at least, she thought she was. Serena hadn't told her the truth...or any of the others, from the looks they were giving me._ "Serena worked her butt off to get into American school, right Serena?"

"Serena...I could mention...that..." Logan's voice brought all our stares on him, but it was Serena's glare that shoved him off-topic. _He knew..._ "Nothing."

I felt a warm glow inside, like I always did when Darien rubbed the top of my head... _even when it usually came just before "it's time to leave the girls to grownup business, Rini."_ "Even if the Shadows can turn into dragons, I'm still not convinced they've got anything on Serena's parents. Let me take you home, on the off-chance they haven't caught you out of bed yet."

"Awww..." _But I couldn't pout, especially not in front of Logan._ I puffed my cheek to keep myself from whining.

"Just a sec?" Logan whispered to Raye, Amy and Lita before they went down the steps. Meanwhile, Darien pulled the opposite way, though Serena and Luna also hung around. A lump grew in my throat when Logan, eyes still cast to the floor, unfurled a crumpled bill from his pocket.

"You remembered my tip! You're the sweetest thing, Logan!" Serena squealed...clamping her mouth when she noticed Darien hanging back from a distance. _That proved she hadn't filled him in on her whole situation yet...  
_  
"It's, um, for her." _I wanted to hear him say my name._ Serena went on griping and groaning to herself loudly as Logan held out a crispy dollar bill. "You...dropped this."

"Uhhh...thanks?" _HE KNEW I'M THE ONE WHO LEFT IT UNDER THE HEATING LAMP!_ "So...I guess I'll...see you later?"

Logan mumbled "mm-hmm"... _at least, I think he did. I couldn't really tell what sound he made. Why did talking to him seem to come so much easier for Serena and Mina?_ Then Logan went off the way they came, leaving me with Luna and Serena while Darien waited in the distance.

"Hey, umm...thanks for, not...totally ratting me out earlier," Serena mumbled after a prodding 'ahem' from Luna.

"He doesn't know yet either?" I tilted my head Darien's way. "Just tell them, Serena. Logan's already figured it out, so will they."

"That's because I kinda mentioned it when I met him," Serena confided. "He came in, said he wanted another minute to look at the menu, and I just...opened up, just like Luna suggested."

Luna's ears stiffened. "Serena, I meant to me, or Rini, or Darien...didn't you just meet Logan that night?"

"Yeah."

"He asks you for another minute to look at the menu and you babble half your life's story to him, even though he was a complete stranger in the middle of a crowded restaurant?!" _Was it me, or was the corner of Luna's forehead really pulsing?_

"Of course it sounds weird when you say it like that! But he wasn't a COMPLETE stranger!" Serena got all defensive. "I...just...didn't know...that...then."

Luna flipped over onto her back with her twitching paws and tail in the air. _Maybe that's why Logan didn't want to talk to me, he must think we're ALL nuts! He just had to bump into Serena first!_

"Let's leave these two to simmer down before they catch up with the others." Darien tugged me away from Cherry Hill for the ride back home...

* * *

 _This was just the sort of moment I always wanted when I was little...Darien all to myself, holding MY hand, with no eyes for anyone else. But now, all I could think about was Logan, and if he was alright. He was in good hands...Amara and Michelle wouldn't lay another hand on him with the others around, and he proved he could fight as well as we could. Maybe even better than me...at least he wasn't dependent on an obsolete toy. But picturing Serena recount every single boo-boo and uh-oh of mine the first time I came here made my skin crawl. Even just the thought of him hanging out with the other girls, while I was stuck at home missing out on the chance to get to know him better made me a little jealous._

That was it, wasn't it?! I WAS JEALOUS! No, NO NO NO NO! I can't be jealous! Mina's got her paws in him already, and it'd be totally cool if she finally got a boyfriend! And besides, I'm with Helios! Or...not really, but he could always change his mind. Maybe Darien would take a trip to Elysion and have a talk with him...though I'd be kind of terrified for Helios if he did that. Maybe he wasn't coming back...or maybe he would and say he just wanted to be friends...but I still just wanted to be friends with Logan, that was all. At least...I thought that, before I realized it hurt when he didn't call me by name, or say goodbye to me last time.

A tighter squeeze from Darien's hand brought me back to the 21st century Tokyo. I expected to see his car waiting for us on the side of the road, but we were in the park instead. _Our own little forest._ "Umm...did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"

"I didn't!" Darien laughed. "I took a detour to see if you were paying attention."

"Sorry, Darien." I hung my head low. "I'm such a space case today."

Darien knelt on one knee as if he were a knight. "I've seen that daze from Serena and the others before. Usually over the same thing..."

I clasped my hands together in front of me. "I want to ask you something, but it's kind of private. I understand if you don't want to."

"Give me a chance to answer it, first." Darien gave me that confident smile I imagined him first giving Serena, the one that won her over from day one. "What is it?"

"Have you...ever liked someone other than Serena? While you were still dating her?" _Darien's smile did fall a bit after I asked._ "I know you wouldn't cheat, I just meant...I shouldn't have asked."

Regaining his composure, Darien took hold of both my shoulders. "Crushes just come out of nowhere sometimes, Rini. At others, you have so much admiration and respect for somebody, you wonder if you might. I...I've been in that place before, Rini. But what makes Serena the most beautiful woman in the world is that she can see what makes everyone special. That's why I love her so much...and you have that gift, too. That's why I loved you before I even knew you were my future daughter."

"Awww, Darien..." I couldn't help gushing.

 _At least until I saw him smirking._ "I never thought about dating you, though."

"Yeah. That...would have been weird," I had to agree with him.

"Where's this coming from, Rini?" _Darien answered one uncomfortable question, now I owed him one._ "Something tells me this isn't just about Helios."

 _Hearing Darien say his name again still made my heart hurt, despite it all._ "It's mostly about him. I feel like I've been such a bad person lately. Darien...I've been...HAVING AN AFFAIR!" _  
_  
Darien abruptly huffed and tossed my arm aside as if he suddenly turned into Serena. After chasing him a couple of steps, he turned back to snap at me. "Don't talk to me! You didn't even invite me to your wedding!"

"I didn't get married yet, Darien!" I blurted out. "When I told dad that I wanted to, he - YOU - said I was too young and suggested that I focus on my studies and becoming the next Sailor Moon in the meantime, and - YOU'RE LAUGHING!"

Chuckling through his words, Darien mocked "that was the point, Rini! You and Helios may be close, but "affair" might be stretching it!"

"No wonder you get along with Logan! That's exactly how he'd answer!" I growled.

"Maybe Luna doesn't consider it an improvement, but you really helped him open up, haven't you?" _DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH!_ "Rini, remember when you thought the girls couldn't wait to get rid of you? People show love in different ways. I don't know why Helios went back on his promise, but you were very special to him. If he's keeping away, it's either because he feels it's the best thing for you right now...or something else is going on, and he's just not telling."

"He made it pretty clear to me..." I sniffled. _I know Darien wanted more of an answer...so would the others...but I still choked up every time I tried. I just wanted it to be a dream._

Darien wrapped me in a tight hug. _Just like my dad would have._ "I know you hate being reminded about your but you still have so many others left to meet. Love is hard for any of us to put into words, no matter how much experience we think we have with it. Just trust your heart will tell you when you've found the right person."

 _I thought it did, when I touched Pegasus for the first time in the Crystal Tokyo. But maybe it'd tell me when the time was right. At least for now, it was OK to wonder about someone else._ "Thanks, Darien. I feel better now."

"You have all of us, Rini. Me, Amy, Raye, Mina, Lita...and Serena, even if she hides it sometimes." _Maybe one day, Logan would be on that list too. He'd always be on mine, even if he never asked._ "OK, enough fresh air. We're really trying our luck with your other mom and dad..."

* * *

"PSSST!" _Sam surprised both of us when he poked his head out of MY window at the top of our house._ "You'd better hurry getting your scrawny butt back in here without mom catching you!"

"Good luck squeezing an explanation from him," Darien smirked. _Lucky for me, Sam left the window open AND turned his back. Just like Mina, I jumped inside with one Sailor Scout leap._

"Woah!" Sam jumped when he heard my soles hit the floor seconds after he last called me. "How the heck did you get up here so fast?!"

"Uh...Darien's got quite a throwing arm!" I planted my hands on my hips all Serena-like. "You'd better have a good excuse for being here this time!"

"How about I crawled under your sheets when mom came looking for you?!" _OK, that...was a good excuse._ "She's still on the warpath over Serena dropping off the face of the Earth! Mom might just be angry enough to mail you home if she catches you sneaking out!"

"I...didn't think you'd go to all that trouble, Sammy."

Sam's face went all vacant, like Serena's. "Just...because...I have nobody else to watch with! All my friends are up to season five, they just complain how bad it is now and how there's a million zombie apocalypse flicks out there!"

"Sam, I think you're just scared to watch by yourself!" I teased.

"Last time was a freebie! You owe me two weeks allowance next time!" _OK, that was a ripoff!_ Sam invited himself to take a seat on my bed with his tablet. _Guess I have nothing better to do, anyway..._

* * *

 _Maybe Serena was right about Sam being a weirdo, who enjoys watching this kind of stuff?! But I found myself envying the people in the show more and more because they were still baking under the warm sun. Summer in Tokyo just came and went in a matter of hours..._

"Hey, Sam? Are you freezing too?" I grabbed my biceps - _my girl biceps -_ and shivered. _He was too!_ Nodding, he reached for my blanket and draped it over himself like a cape. "HEY! LEAVE ME SOME!"

"Don't become like Serena! You don't have to start a fight over everything!" Sam whined after I tugged my sheets back from him...letting go only after my compact's prism flashed. "Did...that thing just glow?"

"No, you were looking at the screen WAY too closely, Sam!" More nervous laughter followed, but then came a light of many colors shining through my window and drawing us both across my back. _Pegasus?! No...for all its colors, he never would have brought this kind of cold with him. My window was ice cold to the touch. This felt more like..._

"DAD!" Sam and I both raced down the stairs to my room when we saw Papa Ken huddled in the sidewalk below, dragging his feet towards our house like the zombies on Sam's favorite show. Mama Ikuko must have heard us, because she had thrown the door open and was helping Papa Ken into the kitchen by the time we reached the front door.

"Why didn't you just call me to pick you up, dear?!" Mama Ikuko got straight to work on a warm pot for him to drink from. _Probably tea or hot cocoa...or coffee. They hid their stash pretty well, I wonder if Mina tipped them off._ "And to think, I brought my fan with me shopping this afternoon! What happened to the weather?"

 _Amara and Michelle. They're what happened, I just knew it! They were boasting about their magic Shadow-ending artifact just a couple of hours ago, they must have gone ahead and flipped the switch anyway -_

LOGAN! If the temperature dip WAS one of the side effects, I had to put a stop to it!

I fumbled through my pocket and shoved two crumpled bills into Sam's unsuspecting fist. "You've got a deal, Sam!"

"Wait, what?!" I turned around with a finger over my lips to shush him. _Mama Ikuko and Papa Ken were just in the next room!_ Sam hissed "I only said that to keep you from sneaking out again!"

"Which makes you the best cousin ever! Later, Sam!" I slipped my feet into my shoes, but the arctic weather wrapped its freezing arms around me the moment I stepped outside. _I already heard Papa Ken sneezing and he just walked home from work. My Sailor uniform covered even less. But it was the quickest way to get around..._ "Moon Prism Power!"

"YOU'RE Sailor Chippy Moon?!" _Oh no, did Sam see me transform?!_ Sam came running out the front door looking super-excited to see me. _Phew, he didn't know it was me!_ "Sorry, I forgot your name, but can I please get your autograph?! I swear I'm your biggest fan ever!"

 _LIAR! You told me getting Sailor Moon's was the coolest thing that ever happened to you!_ "I'm Sailor MINI Moon! Sorry, but I'm in a rush. You'd better get back inside before you catch a cold and Nurse Venus has to make a house call with her adorable little assistant!"

 _Hopefully Mina's not so busy if Papa Ken DOES get sick though. I'm sure it'll go more smoothly NEXT time!_

"Mind sharing that with my cousin?" Sam murmured while I pushed him towards the front door with a single hand against his shoulder blade. "She's about your height, has pink hair done up just like yours, and...hey, you might even be the same age!"

"Oh yeah, I know her! She's, like...the ULTIMATE insider! You could almost say I'm HER biggest fan!" _Don't laugh, then he'll know for sure! He's not as dumb as Serena!_ Wagging my finger at him, I added "so I need you to do me a favor and keep her out of trouble while I go get her. And then I'll see about getting you that autograph, K?"

"Sure! I'll even do it for free!" _I'm gonna hold you to that later, Sam!_ Even after he closed the door, I could hear him squealing for Mama Ikuko and Papa Ken to guess who he just talked to. _That'd keep them occupied for two hours, at least._ Then it was off from rooftop to rooftop, chasing that strange glow in the sky, and hoping that I could stop Amara and Michelle if it came down to it...

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey guys, real life's been taking a bite out of my free time lately (seems to be happening to a lot of us). I was accepted to grad school in the fall, which is great. But to catch up, I've gotta finish two online courses by fall and one of them is pretty tough. Some of you know, I started a new job a month ago too so finding the right balance is tricky. But writing's still where I like to put my free time. We're closing in on the end of The Shadows Beckons...the next chapter could be the last one. If you've read SoSM and remember, you may know just what scene to brace for...

If you're new, we are tracing over some pivotal scenes you'll see again in SoSM, just from a different viewpoint. It feels like FOREVER since I wrote Uranus and Neptune's assassination attempt the first time, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what I wrote is fuzzy. It's part of the fun too, because I don't want it to feel like a retread: not only did I want to show it from a new perspective, I saw a chance to renovate a part of SoSM without committing myself to rewrite all 69 chapters. The scene went through a larger revamp than I thought, I just hope it's an improvement!

Of course, I don't want TSB to be a complete retread, whether it's fresh in your heads or not (if you've read SoSM) so I wanted to add some new material even if it was on the fluffier side. It's been fun tossing Ikuko, Ken and Sam in the story - easy to tell where Serena got her flakiness from, huh? I wanted to hearken back to some early anime "OMG it's the Sailor Scouts!" too: knowing this might be the extended Tsukino family's last scene, I wanted to add a little more to Rini and Sam at the end.

Chapter 11 may come slower - I've gotta finish both my online classes by August 5 to guarantee I can register in time for the fall, so that takes priority, plus I have to work extra hours this week. It's not all bleak though: I have 3000 words, including a renovated chunk of SoSM I held off from publishing with this chapter. Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you soon!


	11. Bracergate

**Chapter 11:** **Bracergate** **  
**

The closer my legs carried me towards that deceptively beautiful aura in the sky, the louder the same questions kept running through my mind: _if this was the Shadow-killing siphon that Amara and Michelle threatened to use, what chance did I have of stopping the both of them?! If_ _I ran into a bunch of Shadows instead_... _same question, only ten times worse. Maybe I didn't have much of one...but I couldn't let that break my stride. How often did my mom...did SAILOR MOON...ask herself the same question. Being a Sailor Scout meant fighting our hardest to save the day, and somehow we always came through. Amara and Michelle should have learned the first time, when they wanted to sacrifice Hotaru, that just wouldn't fly with us. Maybe Charon wasn't my friend the way Hotaru was...at least, not yet...but that didn't matter. Not to me, and certainly not to Serena or Mina._

Panic halted my stride across the rooftops when the gray and black silhouette appeared out of thin air in the stairway leading up the next building, but I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when Sailor Mercury followed him up the stairs. _I caught a lucky break again: I wouldn't have to worry about taking on Shadows or rogue Scouts all by myself._ Venus, Mars, and Jupiter all came rushing up the stairs after them. A smirk rolled across my face as I thought I'd give those Shadows a run for their money...without a noise, I dropped down behind the other three Scouts and ran along with them as if I'd been with the group this whole time. And I almost got away with it, but Charon's head tilted ever so slightly in my direction, with Mercury's following suit.

"RINI?!" Sailor Mercury's eyes grew wide as the ocean, her shaky voice tugging the other Scouts off to the side and leaving me visible."I thought Darien dropped you off at home!"

"I did." Tuxedo Mask gave me a taste of my own medicine when the swoosh of his cape startled ME. "I think my American teacher called this 'early onset teen rebellion'?"

"Not that we don't appreciate the help, Rini..." Sailor Mars got on my nerves a bit, talking down to me as if she was Serena. "But I've seen Mama Ikuko get angry with Serena before and it's not pretty."

"You're right! I'll go home now because being grounded is SO much more important than saving the world!" It took a couple blank stares for the point to sink in: _I was saying sarcastic stuff now, too! Oh no, was Mina gonna get suspicious? Would Logan get mad at me for copying him, if he was even listening? Or cared? If only it weren't for that stupid face-hiding hood...come on Logan, give me SOME kind of clue at least._

"I...thought you and Serena were sisters." _I...was he talking to me?! Of course he was! Who else would he be talking to? LOGAN WAS FINALLY TALKING TO ME! YAAAAAAAY!_

"You get half a point for seeing the resemblance." Sailor Venus nudging him dampened my mood a bit. _Why'd I have to get jealous over a little thing like that? I should be happier he's coming out of his shell._ At that moment, I could feel Uncle Sammy poof onto my shoulder and whisper _"well, he's not gonna want to talk to you if you just stand there gawking at him!"_ I crossed my arms, looked into the dark magic abyss that hid Logan's eyes from me, and tried really, REALLY hard not to start blushing:

"Well, Serena's parents THINK I'm their niece..." _Because I kinda sorta used Luna Ball to help me brainwash them. Plus there were the fake pictures...and the toy gun I kept on me just in case Serena didn't spill right away...but let's wait until we know each other a little better before going into THAT much detail, K?_ "I haven't told them yet that...they're actually my grandparents, because I'm Darien and Serena's future daughter. At least, I'm sure Darien's my dad."

"So...you hitchhiked with Doc and Marty?" _Who was Logan talking about?!_ "Or did Serena and Darien just age REALLY, really well?"

"You wouldn't lose points for second guess," Venus teased not-quite-so-subtly.

"Really! I'm from the thirtieth century!" I blurted out. _Well, I succeeded in getting Logan's attention back, if only to get "..." in response_. _But he took the truth pretty well, all things considering._ Desperate for a new subject, I peeked at Sailor Mercury passing around some kind of little pin to each of the others. "So, what did I miss?"

"Luna and Artemis were right," Sailor Mercury's face went all scrunchy like I just missed out on free ice cream. "You should've seen it, Rini. Charon had his own secret base in the forest, and the ancient computer there addressed him as 'Spymaster.'"

 _Wow, even if we've only got one Shadow on our side now, we sure caught a big fish! Ggggrrr, hurry up with ungrounding me, Mama Ikuko! I want to see Charon's supercomputer!_

I squeezed by the group for a peek up the stairwell after the aurora crackled rainbow-colored electricity in the sky. _Stupid me, every second we were talking put Charon in more danger._ But maybe they meant to hang back for a while, because Mars' gentle gloved hand held me back. I took just enough of a peek to see FOUR Shadows off in the middle of the rooftop, with their arms reaching towards the sky and draining energy from that strange light. Mars pulled me back just in time when a fifth, roving Shadow swung his - _or her -_ head my way. _FIVE Shadows. Maybe the plan was to wait them out, but it didn't seem to be working from where I was standing._

"So not only was their story about Charon true: Amara and Michelle really did uncover some magic Shadow-killing device! Except that's obviously not what it's for!" Sailor Mars groaned. _I could've groaned right along with her: Amara and Michelle were the ones who went on about how the Shadows knew us better than any bad guy we've fought before! Then they're the ones who get duped into proving it!_

"Maybe...we should...go around them?" _Sailor Jupiter's tremoring voice drew all of our eyes. You could count all the times I'd ever seen her get scared on one hand_ _._

"Even you think taking them head-on's a bad idea, huh?" Sailor Mars said what all of us were thinking - _except maybe Charon, only because he'd only been with us a day -_ and not in a condescending way. _If Lita thought taking someone head on was a bad idea, it probably was._ But then I saw the other Scouts' eyes drift towards Charon's arm. He covered his silver bracer with his palm, but not fast enough to hide the deep cracks in them from me. _Either that thing was a lot more fragile than it looked, or it was a side effect from Uranus and Neptune's siphon. That meant putting it off wasn't an option. Oh well, I guess we didn't have the best track record for sneaking by them, anyway..._

"I can even the odds a bit..." With just a whisper, Charon tugged himself over the edge and flipped himself over the roof as if he were one of the Guardian Cats. My own heart skipped a beat, and I saw Venus reaching after him with a single arm, but he landed on the floor without a sound. With his back hunched as he creeped up on one of the channeling Shadows,he reminded me of Luna prowling for mice.

"Hey, maybe we'll finally get to see him do some real spy stuff! I mean, besides beating up people," I chimed in a loud whisper while the other Scouts facepalmed and sighed over Charon not filling us in on his plan first. I couldn't pull my eyes off his dark cloak trailing behind him, wondering what genius distraction he was gonna pull off.

My nerves - _and surely, Mina's too -_ just grew more and more tense as he Charon moved closer and closer behind the patrolling Shadow. I thought he might have landed us in a pickle when the Shadow did a one-eighty turn to face him, but Charon punched him in the stomach. At lightning speed, Charon wrapped one arm tight around the Shadow's neck and pressed into the back of it with his other hand.

"I don't think Luna taught him that," I couldn't help squeaking out loud. Mercury covered her mouth and Mars cringed - _I was already doing both -_ over the Shadow's muffled choking sounds.

"That's a blood choke, it SHOULD put him to sleep." Sailor Jupiter pulled Mars back when she jumped up, probably to stop Charon. Jupiter and Venus still looked uneasy watching Charon tussle with the flailing Shadow, clawing for Charon's face and trying to make enough noise to alert his oblivious pals. But as terrible as it looked, it only took a few seconds before the Shadow's struggling grew slower and slower, and Charon started letting him to the floor. But the Shadow refused to fully drift off to sleep, and Charon followed up with a not-so-silent, point-blank blast of dark magic.

"TRAITOR!" The now-alert Shadows pulled away, definitely catching the noise that Charon made. But without waiting for the rest of us to jump in, Charon created a swirling black-purple magic orb in his hand and chucked it at them like a twenty-first century grenade. The orb burst into a thick cloud of dark smoke, but it was no ordinary cloud. The Shadows' inside gave muffled but unmistakable yelps when purple-tinged electricity coursed through anything inside...bringing back the unpleasant reminder of being tortured by Wiseman. If Charon felt sorry for them too, he didn't stop to show it. He was just a blur charging towards them as soon as his fog cleared up: he dropped to his feet to trip over one Shadow, then lunged for another and slammed his head into the floor as he went.

"Mercury Ice Storm...BLAST!" _Not that we needed her to turn down the temperature even more, but gigantic shards of ice pounded into the pair of Shadows that Charon had struck. As bad as Charon's sleeper hold looked, Mercury's finisher left nothing behind when her storm let up_. _The element of surprise made all the difference here: the bad guys were going down so easily compared to last time._

But there were still three left to deal with, and the one Charon unsuccessfully tried to put to sleep almost caught ME by surprise too. I ducked beneath his arms and circled around to get away. Charon reappeared behind my attacker instantly, then held the Shadow in front of himself as a shield. The forth across from us, with a chain of beads around her hood hinting we were faced with a 'she', created a HUGE dark blue crystal in mid-air and hurtled it as a spear towards Charon. She ended up striking her pal instead, and Charon just tossed the unfortunate shield aside to take her on net. _I'd seen a lot of violence since I came to this century...I thought I was used to it...but watching Charon fight, I'd never guess he was the same quiet person I met on another rooftop. While Lita had her natural strength and Mina had those mean kicks of hers, it was like Charon had some inner sadness or anger he buried most of the time that came out when he fought..._

"Venus!" Sailor Jupiter shouted her name, and turned just in time to see an orange blur tossed along the roof. Charon pulled away from the second-to-last Shadow and caught Venus just before she fell off into the streets below. A quick bolt of lightning made short work of the Shadow that Charon had used as a shield earlier, leaving just one bad guy left. With Charon briefly out of the picture, the other Scouts distracted our last enemy with wave after wave of fire arrows, thunderbolts and streams of water. Those that managed to hit her either pinged off her magic shield or nicked her outfit, but they kept her distracted just long enough for Charon to reappear behind her. Instead of taking a clue and running off, the Shadow made for one last-ditch dark magic strike at Charon. He blocked her would-be strike with his bracer and flipped her over his shoulders to the ground. Just when he was ready to land the final blow, she started...laughing. _I don't know what it was about her voice that made me stop cold..._

"So, that bracer's good for something other than showing the world you're a massive tool!" The beaten Shadow raised her arms towards the sky as if she was surrendering, but just kept cackling like a madwoman while her sleeves fell. She'd punctured her eerily-pale skin with several of those dark shards, like the one that Charon's bracer was holding. _And some of them had been oozing blood from the many tears and cracks._

"EWWW! What kind of sickos are you?!" The sight almost made me throw up. _How could any of them possibly think THEY were the good guys doing stuff like that to themselves?!_

Everybody, including Logan, looked completely disgusted too...but his reaction was a lot briefer than ours. I covered my mouth when I saw him actually REACHING for her arms, like he was about to touch them. _As if he was curious about something._ "Luna said I couldn't use dark magic without a bracer...but she's not wearing one."

"Why did Luna say that?" I thought out loud. "Maybe she just assumed, but we fought loads of bad guys before who didn't need bracers to use the same powers!"

 _Come to think of it, I didn't notice ANY of the other Shadows wearing bracers like Charon's._ And then I saw Mercury's eyes pleading with me to hush. _But why?_

"Look who just came tumbling from their moral high horse!" _She sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place her voice with all that Shadow static covering it._ Again, the defeated Shadow just burst out laughing like a hyena. "You don't need the bracer to control your powers, Charon. The Sailor Scouts need it to control YOU!"

"She's just rambling, right?! Luna wouldn't lie to me, right!" Charon backed away in disbelief, waiting for the others to tell him he was right...but I saw Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter back away from HIM. _Why? Why weren't they just denying it?_

"I...I can't speak for Luna, Logan." That anything less than a flat-out denial came from Amy's mouth hit me like a pile of bricks _. There was no misunderstanding. Luna flat-out lied to Logan...and everybody else was in on it. And they kept ME out of the loop too!_ Mercury may not have been able to see Charon's face, but mine didn't hide anything. "But it's only fair we were finally honest with you. The bracer HELPS you focus and control your powers, that part was true - "

"They just conveniently forgot their Outer pals' fantasy siphon does the exact same thing the bracer does when you've been naughty!" The fallen Shadow's harsh snickering whistled through her broken teeth. "Touch anyone with Sailor Scout magic and you go ZAP!"

"We'd never make you wear something that could KILL you!" Mercury blurted out, but seeing Logan grit his teeth proved the damage was already done. "Luna...described the bracer to us as a shock collar, of sorts. We were scared you might turn on us...or that even if you were sincere, your powers would corrupt you somehow and you'd start to misuse them."

"That doesn't answer why you didn't tell ME either!" I nearly spat at her, badly timed as my question might have been. Mercury just shifted away from me as if she was hoping one of the others would answer. _There was no good reason, was there?!_ I looked around for Tuxedo Mask, but he was nowhere to be seen. _He sure picked a good time to disappear._

Charon was careful to hide his face from us, careful to hide his face just like the first time we met. _But his sleeves weren't long enough to hide the sight of his fingers curling up into fists._ Charon's voice grew louder and louder, from the barely-audible tone we were used to into a deafening boom: "So this whole time YOU'VE been judging ME, YOU'RE the ones who have been lying to my face?! ALL OF YOU?!"

"Rini didn't know!" Mina blurted out. _Well, that didn't make me any less angry at the group, but Mina was trying to defend me..._ though she just fell apart when Logan's face didn't show the tiniest sign of lightening up. _It didn't make much of a difference if I knew or not...Serena and Mina were the ones he really cared about._ Apologies kept flooding from Mina's mouth: "Luna told us just last night! I swear we were going to tell you, we just thought the right time would come - "

"Squeezing the truth from the Sailor Scouts, just like trying to squeeze lemonade from a rock!" The Shadow's icy tongue cut through Mina's words. "While we're at it, why don't you tell him about Pavlov's dog experiments, Smarty Pants? Everyone knows about the dinner bell one, but he taught 'em to enjoy their electric shocks, too. That's the idea, right? Get Charon salivating on command like the rest of Moonie's lapdogs!"

"Something tells me we've met before!" Charon grabbed the Shadow by the arm and started dragging her to the edge. "That shield of yours protects you from THEIR magic, but I wonder if a good-old fashioned drop still hurts..."

"Charon!" Sailor Mars didn't hold back from coming after him this time. "If you drop her - "

"WHAT?!" Charon pressed his fingers even more tightly into the amused Shadow's throat. "I'm just as bad as they are?! Apparently, you thought so!"

"I didn't take you for the shoot-the-messenger type." Underneath her hood, I could see the Shadow didn't take care of her teeth any better than her skin. "But I've said my piece, boss! Drop me if it makes you feel any better!"

"I know you're not like them, Logan!" Sailor Venus' cry made Charon shake. "And we should have seen that earlier, but don't turn into them just because we didn't!"

"Fine..." Charon pulled the Shadow away from the edge...and wrapped his arm around her neck with one hand behind her back. She seemed to just shrug as she let him put her to sleep, except he didn't let her to the floor nearly as gently.

"I'm sorry, Logan..." Mercury called to him quietly. He froze in place, fists still clenched. _I didn't need to see his face to know "sorry" wasn't good enough._

"DON'T TALK TO ME." Logan's growl wasn't just directed towards her... _I just hoped I wasn't included_. "I'll help you destroy the Siphon, but then you're on your own. I'm done helping the Sailor Scouts."

* * *

Four pairs of eyes followed Charon's coattails as he stormed off. The aurora was still in the sky, telling us where Uranus and Neptune were gathered along with Sailor Moon. But I barely took one step before an image in my dream flashed in front of my eyes... _a deathly-pale Sailor Scout hiding her eyes behind V-style glasses, looking down at me and cackling_. _I knew I'd heard that laugh from somewhere...and that Shadow's skin seemed just the right amount of pale. But it was all still just one big jumble in my head, even if Helios himself felt real enough. There was only one way to find out..._

"Rini!" My fingers froze at the sound of Tuxedo Mask calling out to me, just when I was set on peeling away the Shadow's hood. "Come with us, please. We need you."

"Oh yeah?" I swung a fist of my own Tuxedo Mask's way. _Not that I planned on hitting him_. "If I'm so important, why'd you keep me out of the loop too? Mr. "Don't-Talk-To-Me-Because-You-Didn't-Tell-Me-You-Got-Married", except that was a joke and this is serious?!"

"I..." _It was rare for me to see Darien at a loss for words, but there he was._ "Like the others, I thought it was better if you didn't know. Especially if he did find out. He needs your help right now, as much as Serena. And you may be the only one he doesn't hate right now."

"HMMPH!" _It wasn't often I felt so angry at Darien either, but how could I not be?! Deep down though, I knew he was right...Logan was hurting too, and I had to help Serena no matter how angry I was at her right now._

"We're out of time. Please, Rini." _Those eyes I had such a hard time saying no to begged me to follow, refusing to give me even two seconds for a peek under Phony-Scout-or-not's hood. She looked like she was out cold...but I guess the answer would just have to wait til later...  
_  
Tuxedo Mask led me up a skyscraper towering over the others. _Such a long jump, no wonder the others procrastinated._ A large, golden tower-like crystal sat on this rooftop. _The spirals reaching upwards reminded me of the Crystal Palace...it COULD pass for something that we might have a hand in, but there was just no way. Amara and Michelle were just being idiots again, pure and simple_. _The only thing they were right about was it caused that strange display in the sky. And sure enough, there they were..._

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N: That's right, I'm still alive! Had a super busy summer between getting ready for grad school - especially two surprise online classes! - work, and cousins visiting! I hadn't planned on splitting the last chapter, I used to write such brief chapters for SoSM it feels jarring now but closing in on two months since my last update...I felt this part was done, so better to give you a taste than leave you guys hanging!**

 **A special thank you goes out to James Birdsong and my other friends - both here and on DA - who kept in touch with me during my longer-than-planned hiatus - and Lisseas, you got to name the chapter :P I'll try to get the rest of the finale out soon...I hope you enjoyed this, whether you remember from SoSM or this is your first time seeing the older Sailor Scouts may be a touch more pragmatic too. Do you think they were right to keep the truth from Charon (or Rini)? Or they're crossing the line this time? Off to work the rest of the day and tomorrow morning, but then I have a day off to knock out the rest - wish me luck! Talk soon guys :)**


	12. Just When I Thought We Had Something

**Chapter 12: Just When I Thought We Had Something**

Without a word, I followed Tuxedo Mask up one skyscraper that towered over the others. _No wonder the others procrastinated...it was such a long jump. A large, golden tower-like crystal sitting on top also set this building apart._ The spirals reaching upwards reminded me of the Crystal Palace... _it COULD pass for something one of us had a hand in making, but there was just no way. Amara and Michelle were just being idiots again, pure and simple. The only thing they were right about was it caused those strange lights in the sky. I wasn't sure which made my stomach churn first: Amara and Michelle, or the Shadow that was giving them a thrashing...  
_  
If I didn't know Charon any better - _or if I hadn't seen the ornate markings missing from other Shadow robes, almost like skulls and blood-red tally marks_ \- I would have thought he was the one dragging Sailor Neptune across the rooftop by the throat. _I couldn't say I'd blame him for WANTING to. But Sailor Moon was there too, and I knew Charon wasn't angry enough to hurt her. At least, I had a strong feeling he wouldn't turn on us like that...  
_  
"Just don't hurt her!" a battered Sailor Uranus, with dark magic burns cutting into her white leotard, came scurrying out to beg him for mercy. She didn't waste a second groveling, even with the rest of the Inner Scouts all jumping around the edges of the rooftop in a circle. Tuxedo Mask and I were the last ones to jump in. All of us were here now. _All except Charon...  
_  
"Quick to change your tune when someone YOU care about is in trouble, huh Amara?" Sailor Moon, as battle-scarred as she was, dusted herself off and leaned up against the big old 'plot device' Logan had mocked earlier. Uranus opened her mouth to respond, but swallowed her words back down and stayed quiet. _Maybe Serena's words FINALLY sunk in? Nah, probably not._

It was nine against one, but the Shadow boss in front of us was as smug as ever. Now I saw Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars all looking around for a certain someone too. _He'd been with them the rest of the time. He wouldn't just bail on us like that...right?_ The bad Shadow pointed to a weathered moon-shaped necklace around Sailor Moon's neck that she didn't have before and spoke in a deep, bellowing voice: "So...the only thing the pretender hasn't given you yet is the knife to cut his own throat."

No quick comeback from Sailor Moon... she waved her arms all Serena-like as if she was trying to ward off an oncoming train. "Can't we just...try talking this out and agree to stop calling him names? It's hard keeping track of them all!" Easily distracted as ever, she counted off all the Shadows' names for him on one hand, quietly mouthing "Charon, Traitor, Turncoat, Spymaster..."

"Blasphemer..." The Shadow boss made Sailor Moon facepalm yet again by tacking on a new nickname. Without paying any mind to any of us, he spoke down to the ledge between the combat-ready pair of Mars and Jupiter. "Why hide from me? The Scouts may be arrogant, but they know better than to commit to such bravado without you in the wings. Unless...I'm not the one you're hiding from."

And in an instant, Charon threw himself over the ledge, still wearing the same-colored robes as our enemy. I realized that everybody - except maybe Uranus and Neptune - took their eyes off the bad guy to stare at Charon, but his shrouded eyes were glued to the floor. _Something told me Sailor Moon was in for the silent treatment...though her usual vacant expression hinted she hadn't caught my own glares her way. Serena...even if lying about Charon's bracer wasn't your idea, you couldn't have thought he and I would never find out! None of you could have!_

Charon's gaze was fixed on our shared enemy. As if they were the only two standing on that rooftop, a shrug accompanied Charon's growl: "it's YOUR fault I'm late. If you had beaten up Neptune and Uranus earlier, I could have just walked across the street to buy popcorn."

Mercury, Mars, Jupiter - even Venus flinched towards Sailor Moon, like there was some tiny shred of possibility Charon just might turn on us. But still clueless to the hole she was digging herself in, Sailor Moon crisscrossed her arms in front of the disinterested Shadow baddie and launched into her speech: "you didn't think you could suck our powers away for some early winter nighttime light show, did you? Even if you almost succeeded thanks to a certain gullible Scout duo - "

"I'm confused, WHICH Scout duo helped the Shadows more?" _There was no missing the venomous sarcasm dripping from Logan's mouth THIS time, yelling to none of us in particular_. "The double-crossing, double standard-toting, pair of two-faced phony friends trying to scurry back from their latest betrayal?! Or Uranus and Neptune?"

"He means you and me. He knows about the bracer," a somber Venus clued Sailor Moon in, stuck in the middle of her pose with her mouth gaping open. With her fellow blonde's words, Sailor Moon's face became as pale as her namesake. And with the other - perhaps more guilty - Inner Scouts and Tuxedo Mask shirking away from taking on their share of the blame, Venus stared pleadingly into the shadowy abyss beneath Charon's hood. "Serena and I never wanted you to find out like this - "

"What?! You really fell for the cats' fairy tales about the wicked witch's luminous Moon Kingdom, turncoat?!" _And the other dentally-uninsured Shadow proved he was just as rude as the others before him, interrupting Mina's latest apology attempt with another grin of rotting teeth_. "You're a bigger fool than I was told! The First Spymaster was a visionary...though some of us were as naïve as you, once. Perhaps your successor will tell me whether you were truly one of us in your past life...when I lay your corpse down at his feet."

Dark magic swirled around the bad guy, except this time eight massive tentacles dripping dark-purplish ooze onto the ground writhed around him. _Ewww, the thought of us tangling with some kind of slimy pirate movie monster almost made me wish for another dragon instead!_ He launched his ginormous tentacles for all the other Scouts. Charon and I were the only ones quick enough to jump out of the way - everyone else went flying and sliding across the roof. I saw Charon teleport behind the hideous Kraken-Shadow to soften him up for us, but a stray 'tentacle' sent him barreling towards the edge of the roof. Without another thought, I launched after Charon and just barely managed to grab the edge of his sleeve before he dropped into the streets below.

"Got you!" I cheered in the middle of my grunting. _Lifting him up sure wasn't easy, but somehow I tugged him up just enough for him to grab the ledge himself. I wish he would have said something...a thank you, a nod, SOME kind of acknowledgement I existed would have made my day. But I figured he was just super-focused on the main bad guy._ With the Shadow-Kraken tossing everybody around, shrugging off Sailor Uranus' haphazard Blaster attack, I tried to catch him off guard with my own wand. But this time, when I called "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" the music wouldn't even play.

"Could I...help you get a new wand?" Charon stammered while I shook my wand as if it was a malfunctioning toy, before he mumbled to himself: "just please, no fetch quest..."

"You're sweet!" _DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH!_ "This wand's special, though. My friend fixed it before...well, it wasn't a wand after he fixed it, but then it got unfixed and now it's a wand again..."

Lucky for me, Charon was way more attentive and shoved me out of the way before a giant Shadow-tentacle reminded me where I was. _Though my cheeks were still a LITTLE bit pink._ And I went right back to babbling back to Charon: "long story, maybe next time?"

If nearly getting squished by the Shadow-Kraken wasn't enough of a reality check for me, seeing Charon's little smile fade did the trick. _There wasn't going to be a next time. At least he didn't sound like he was mad at me specifically. But he meant it when he said he was done with us. All of us._

"Charon!" _Oh, buzz off Amara!_ _At least, that's what I wanted to tell her, but Sailor Mercury and Jupiter's screaming while the Shadow-Kraken tossed them around like ragdolls held my tongue while the washed-up Outer Scout spoke to Charon._ "I know we don't deserve to ask for your help, but your friends are done without it!"

"You don't," he grumbled. _Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I saw Charon's head tilt my way._ In almost as quiet a tone as his, I mumbled in return: 'I guess we don't have a choice'.

"He's draining the rest of our power...from the Siphon..." Sailor Neptune crawled over to us, the most pummeled from our last fight. I did see near-invisible slivers streaming out from the damaged Siphon and into the Shadow-Kraken. Charon seemed to notice them too...

"If he won't let me get close enough to hit him...draining MY power instead might do the trick," Charon proposed. _OR it could backfire on us and power-up the main bad guy into some three-headed Medusa-like serpent monster with twenty arms_...but I could already see Charon planting his hands on that cursed weapon of mass... _whatever he called it earlier_. I swung in front of Uranus with my arms crossed just in case she thought about trying something on Charon while his back was turned. Neptune stumbled back to her feet when a huge crack tore open the roof beneath us. The Commander's octopus-shaped form started disintegrating around him, as the slivers of energy he drew on became the same color as Charon's dark magic attack. _His idea was working!_

Like the other Scouts, I felt my own hair being tugged towards the aurora in the sky as Charon channeled his energy through it. The diamonds adorning the artifact cracked before the entire Siphon shattered, combining with Charon's energy to transform the aurora into a large swirling vortex. With a single flick of his hand, Charon sent the dark vortex flying straight at the bad Shadow. Charon just barely gave us enough warning to jump off before his attack cast the former Shadow-Kraken thundering into the street like a meteor...along with a good chunk of the building we had been standing on. Still, the stubborn villain managed to slither out from the rubble like a cockroach when we raced down to confirm his defeat. But Uranus and Neptune were there to squish him first...

"Uranus World Shaking!"

"Neptune Deep Submerge!" The Outers' combined orbs slammed into the defeated Shadow boss, utterly disintegrating him. The usually-snarky pair just stepped aside when Artemis came around, supporting Luna on his shoulder. _Both cats looked like they'd tumbled quite a distance, maybe since before the rest of us even got there_. As the Guardian Cats stared towards a grim Charon trudging their way with clenched fists, I knew the others wouldn't pay any mind to Uranus and Neptune hanging around...

"Charon, that was AWESOME!" Still pumped after the fight, Sailor Jupiter must have forgotten Charon wasn't in a talking mood. The stare of death he answered with quickly wiped the grin off her face. "Sorry! I forgot you were mad at us!"

"Logan..." _Serena might have still been dressed as Sailor Moon, but in her place stood the terrified girl who looked down on me with horrified eyes after she shoved me in the streets. And I don't think that same Serena could believe that she had been so passive in the face of everybody else's lie._ "Logan, look at me. Please."

"All of this was my fault." Luna darted in front of Serena's feet, coming between Charon's eyes and the floor he so desperately wanted to glue them to. "I knew you were as scared as I was about what you might do with your powers...and what your powers might do to you. I was so desperate for your help that I pressured you into helping us. The bracer was my idea, Logan, as was meeting with the others behind your back to fill them in on my lie."

Logan didn't even flinch. _All that face-concealing, voice-altering dark magic went a long way towards making Logan a lot scarier when he was a Shadow...but what terrified me now was knowing he had the anger to match it beneath the hood._ With Logan still refusing to give any hints as to whether he was listening or just tuning us out, Sailor Mars came forward next. _If anyone was gonna get a word out of Charon, it'd be her_. "Serena and Mina wanted to tell you the truth. The rest of us - "

"Except Rini." In a more timid voice than usual, Venus cut right into Mars' line. Hearing my name made ME clench my fists too... _seeing Charon like this made me keep forgetting they hadn't bothered telling me either. Though I knew Mina was coming from a better place...the other Scouts hadn't dropped their guard since the fight ended. Now the Siphon was done for and there was no bad guy Shadow to stand between us and Charon's temper if it exploded...  
_  
"Except Rini, because you met her just this morning..." Sailor Mars sighed before picking up where she left off. "The rest of us voted against telling you the truth because we thought you might still be a threat to Serena. We weren't out to hurt your feelings. I hope you can understand."

Everybody else's eyes still peered into the dark void shrouding his eyes, still looking for that hint to what he was feeling. But that hint came in his voice, rising like a cranky giant who had just been woken up from his nap: "Serena doesn't realize how lucky she is to have so many people making excuses for her."

Mars' mouth fell open in shock. _Maybe she was used to going back and forth with Serena all the time, but I don't think she expected Logan to be so blunt with her_. "That's not what we're trying to - "

"THEN EXPLAIN WHY YOU COULDN'T HAVE TOLD ME TWO MINUTES BEFORE SHE DID, WHEN WE WERE ALL HUDDLED UP ON THAT ROOFTOP!" ALL of us took a step back when Charon shouted into Raye's face at full volume before launching into a full mimicry of us, head bobbing from side to side. ""OH, BY THE WAY, LOGAN? LUNA FED YOU A LOAD OF BALONEY ABOUT NEEDING THE BRACER TO USE YOUR POWERS, IT'S JUST THAT WE TRUST THE TWO SERIAL BACKSTABBERS WHO TRIED TO MURDER YOU MORE...PROBABLY BECAUSE THEY ALSO WEAR SHORT SKIRTS!"" After a long pause for air, Logan continued in a subdued tone: "unless they were in on the act..."

"We didn't stage what happened at Raye's temple, if that's what you're accusing us of!" Sailor Mercury's shuddering voice jumped to Serena's defense. "We aren't the Shadows, Logan!"

"Are you sure, because this still sounds like it's right up their alley!" _Seeing the change in Logan, from being so shy and sweet and paying off everybody's breakfast in secret to spitting at us as if he hated us as much as the Shadows. Maybe he DID hate us as much as they did, now._ "All of you had all day to tell me the truth! Any one of you could have said something - "

"Except Rini. Just, errr...friendly reminder?" Mina shrunk after her timid reminder, though she did give Logan pause. _I was the quiet one this time. Logan was tearing into them enough for both of us...and yet, he had every right to be angry. The Sailor Scouts in my dad's stories would have given him a chance to earn our trust...not label him from the start and collar him, like the Shadows would say.  
_  
"You're right, Logan." Serena choked on her tears as she spoke, a sound I'd heard so often lately. "I knew we chose wrong, and I should have spoken up because I knew you weren't just pretending to be on our side! And I know that you feel like our whole friendship was a lie because of this, but everything else was genuine! Please believe me!"

Instead of acknowledging Serena, Logan turned his eyeless glare upon a cowering Luna. "I've been let down by people I cared about too...but I trusted you because I thought you were good people. I know why you didn't tell me the truth: because you saw I still believed in the Hollywood version of the Sailor Scouts, you saw me trying to live up to your holier-than-thou standard, AND YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE! The worst part is...if you had told me the bracer was really for keeping me in line, I still would have helped you!"

"I know you would have." Serena held back her tears back for as long as she could, but she was still Serena. _Not that I was doing much better at holding my own back, knowing where this conversation was going_. "We would never force you to fight for us, Logan. We betrayed your trust and...and I understand if you want to leave."

"Hold up, let's not make any hasty decisions!" Artemis' desperation to keep Charon in the group loosened his tongue. _And it loosened mine, too - I knew it was what Logan wanted right now, but what if there WAS something I could say that would convince him to give all of us another chance? We still needed him...I needed him to stay!  
_  
"There's no more "let's!"" _Or maybe there isn't anything I can say,_ I thought when Charon swung his bracer arm towards Artemis' face as if he could have slugged the moody cat. "ARE YOU GIVING ME A CHOICE OR NOT?!"

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry I'm leaving you guys on quite a cliffhanger...splitting the last chapter AGAIN wasn't an easy call to make. It hasn't been easy to balance what increasingly feels like an on-call job with graduate school AND writing. Some days, I come home and writing's the last thing I feel like doing, and when I do want to write I seem to keep running out of time. With things only getting busier, I feel a third of a chapter's better than none. I know the fallout from the Sailor Scouts' bracer lie is a scene many of you have been looking forward to seeing (or seeing remastered, coming from SoSM): having that mental checkmark in my head will help me focus on what I hope will be the third and last part of Rini's finale...after I get clear of two major projects in both my classes this month :/

So, questions for next time if you haven't read SoSM (or, if I decide to go for a major break and create a time paradox :P): is there anything Rini can say to talk Charon out of leaving? Will he forgive the Sailor Scouts, or will Death Phantom Junior's persona make a 21st-century comeback? What are Sailors Uranus and Neptune hanging around for? And don't forget a certain Shadow who unraveled everything in the first place...if Rini comes back for a peek under the hood, will she find Pseudo Scout? Hope you guys decide to leave me a note or write me a review...just knowing people are still reading would be a huge morale boost for me! Hope to see you guys for the finale by the end of October...sooner, I hope!


	13. Rini's Heartbroken Rhapsody

**Chapter 13: Rini's Heartbroken Rhapsody**

"THERE'S NO MORE "LET'S!" ARE YOU GIVING ME A CHOICE OR NOT?!" _Logan could be pretty scary when he was angry. I wondered if that was one reason he was so quiet most of the time. I couldn't say I blamed the other Scouts for backing away, though moving into a shell around Serena might have been overreacting a bit. But SOMEBODY had to try to talk him into staying._

"What about us? Aren't we friends?" The question just tumbled out of my mouth. _OK, now everybody was staring at me, but at least I finally said what I wanted to ever since I met him. Errr...well, maybe what I really wanted to do since I first met him was burst out in song_ _: "hey Logan, you're so fine! You're so fine, you blow my mind! HEY LOGAN!" But that would have been really embarrassing._

"…" _Logan's silence wasn't totally unexpected, but some part of me hoped he might actually say SOMETHING. Give me some kind of hint. But his silence told me all I needed to know._ I knew what he was thinking: _"why does this high-pitched cotton-candy haired little kid keep annoying me? What did I do to make her think I'd want to be friends with HER?!" Mina and Serena were his only friends - he was just nice to me the way he's nice to everyone._ _I wasn't even a blip on his radar. And he wasn't gonna change his mind just because someone he barely knew asked him._

I stared at my lightly-scuffed pink boots so nobody could see the tears starting to well up in my eyes. _Still, I had to say something...he was still MY friend, even if he was gonna leave just like all the rest._ "Why don't you keep the bracer anyway?"

A confused "Mini Moon?" escaped from Luna's mouth. Everybody else's eyes said just as much when I dared to look up. Of course, my eyes went right back down when I saw even Charon ever so slightly lifted his head.

"And why would I do that?" _Charon sure sounded sulky. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he sounded like I betrayed him, like he knew deep down I was just as angry as he was. Like maybe, he thought I might even go with him...not that I could ever leave the others, I could never be THAT angry, but...what did I know? Who was I to try reading him? That was just my stupid brain trying to fill in all the blanks where his face wouldn't give anything away.  
_  
"Because it's better than nothing," I said a lot more quietly. _With everything going on, how could I still be scared about blushing in front of him?_ "Just because you hate all of us now and don't want us around anymore - "

"Except Rini?" Sailor Venus got herself a nudge on the elbow by Sailor Mars. ' _I think he gets it,'_ I saw Mars whisper into her ear. _At least I wasn't the only one wishing for more of a response from him...though I wondered if Mina would vouch for me so much if she knew I was secretly pining for the same guy._

 _"I don't hate you, Rini." That's all I want you to say, Logan. But you won't even give me that, will you?! After I tried so hard to be your friend, and even when I'm still trying!  
_  
 _No...friendship's supposed to be selfless, right?_ So instead, I filled the silence by picking up where I left off: "the Shadows are still calling you traitor. How else are you gonna protect yourself? Cram dark shards into your skin like they do?"

"RINI!" Artemis and Luna both flinched in alarm. _They thought he might actually do it...even after Luna said he didn't actually want that power in the first place._ Even I took a step back as Charon's robes fizzled away, and Logan took his place. I saw his fingers reaching for his bracer, as if he wanted to rip it off right then and there anyway. But he pulled his fingers away and sighed.

"Guess I'll be donating all my short-sleeved shirts to charity then." _He listened, at least. That meant SOMETHING, didn't it? At least he'd be safe...though I felt the hole in my heart widening when he turned his back on us and started walking away. It was really happening. He was leaving...  
_  
"Are you sure we can't fix this, Logan?" It was Sailor Mars who called after him, bringing his retreat from us to a screeching halt. "We were terrible to you, Logan! I was terrible! But to just walk away with everything that's at stake - "

"We don't have the right to ask him for help anymore." Sailor Moon's voice shook badly. _She was trying to hold her true feelings back, like I was...though she wasn't doing nearly as good a job_. "I wanted to be your friend, Logan...for what little that's worth now."

"We all did." Sailor Mercury offered him an olive branch. _If only you had done that sooner, Amy._

Even without his hood, Logan knew just the right way to tilt his head so his eyes remained hidden from us. "I wasn't a good fit, anyway. Sailor Scout business was the only reason we were friends in the first place."

"You truly believe that?" Venus took the risk of speaking to him again. _I thought he might be angry...she and Serena had been the closest to him. Their betrayal stung him the most_. _He hadn't meant what he said, I could tell just by the way he turned without answering. Like even now, he was still trying to comfort us by saying it wouldn't have worked out anyway. But I knew Serena, and she'd never buy it..._

"I'm a terrible person!" Sailor Moon's emotional wall crumbled and gave way to a blubbering Serena...and before the thought even entered my mind, my arms were wrapped around her waist. _Even if it was just for a second, I couldn't be angry at her...not after seeing how sorry she was for not doing the right thing earlier._ Sailor Jupiter clasped Sailor Moon's shoulder gently and led her the opposite way. One-by-one, the others left too...Venus was the last to pull herself away, no doubt tussling with the idea of running after Logan in a last-ditch effort to change his mind. _There was no hope of me changing it. I already tried..._ but my decision changed in a split second when a certain slithery pair that watched the whole exchange from far away scurried back into the limelight…

"Charon!" The sight of Sailor Uranus waving Logan over like they were suddenly BFFs made me fume. _I was so angry at myself: I didn't realize how bad they were, I even told Darien four years ago that they weren't as bad as they seemed to be. But that was before they tried to kill my friends - Plu, Hotaru, and now Logan. Enough's enough, Amara and Michelle! You're gonna get it from me THIS time, stupid wand or not!_ At least, that's what I thought before a different gloved hand threw itself in front of my chest, interrupting my stomp towards them.

"They're not carrying their usual bag of tricks on them. They wouldn't pull another one out so soon." _Mina...usually such the optimist, but she sounded so bleak and depressed when she guided me out of their sightline_. She lead me up to the rooftop in a single bound, so that we could spy on Logan and our ex–friends below. "The last thing Logan needs right now is more of us leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Wait…did that make any sense? I'm trying to get my quotes right, I swear!"

"I'm not exactly up to date, you know." _Poor Mina, I didn't want to spill that she was still mangling proverbs in Crystal Tokyo._ But then I remembered I was supposed to be really mad at her: she had her pointer finger pressed into her chin, her telltale sign that she was in thinking mode, but I dragged her arm towards me. "All you and Serena had to do was speak up! Or better yet, include me! You know I would have been on your side!"

"I did try to tell you, Rini!" Mina, still dressed as Sailor Venus, pleaded with me. "Right before you went off after Logan, in that restaurant!"

"The Mina I remember never let anyone talk her out of anything! You barely even tried this time!" Venus' mouth dropped to argue with me, but no words came out of them. Uranus and Neptune were still down there, chatting it up with Logan. _I wonder if he caught us sneaking up here in just one bound. Could be he WAS a master spy but his memories hadn't come back yet...Serena was supposed to be a graceful and refined Princess in HER past life but she was still an oaf._

"You're right, Rini. I didn't try at all." Venus' voice, weighing heavily with regret, brought me back. "I haven't felt like my old go-getter self in a long time. And I seem to have forgotten Friendship 101 along the way."

It was only then, like with Serena, I realized I wasn't THAT angry at her. _I just wanted her to go back to the fun, cheerful, slightly-but-not-nearly-as-crazy-as-Serena Mina that I grew up with._ "You're still a good friend, Mina. You're just...out-of-practice."  
 _  
_She did break her pouty face long enough for a smirk and raised eyebrow. "I have been letting Artemis hang around you too much. You're sounding just like him."

We spied Uranus and Neptune finally pulling away from Logan below, leaving him right where he was. _I still didn't think Amara and Michelle deserved the confidence Mina had in them. If they so much as plucked a hair from his head - even if he didn't have much to pull out - even Venus wouldn't be able to stop me! But he stood there deep in thought, showing no sign of harm, bodily or otherwise. I sorely wanted to yell for him to look up...but Mina was right, he needed his alone time. And true to her word, she just let her head follow his direction as he departed below._ "Maybe Logan was right. He wouldn't be the only one to think we'd be awful for each other."

 _She looked so sad again. I wanted to give Mina a little bit of hope, at least.  
_  
"I wish Logan could meet Plu. I bet they'd get along like chocolate chips and mint ice cream!" _I knew I was gonna have to explain away that last part when Venus threw a twitching eyebrow my way._ "As...friends…of course…" I followed up with a fit of laughter to hide how red my face was.  
 _  
_"Of course! After we smooth things over, I can totally picture us setting Trista and Logan up for a playdate!" _Good thing Mina closed her eyes as she clamped her hands and squealed, or she would have seen MY face get all scrunchy at the idea of setting Logan up with somebody else on a 'date'._ "They have so much in common! They're taller, and older, and super-serious most of the time! They might even get each other's jokes!"

 _I had to admit that Mina had a point: Plu just wasn't that funny. She tried telling me a few jokes at the Space-Time Door and I spent a whole night practicing my super fake laugh for the next time I visited her. Assuming Mina doesn't get sidetracked from that playdate - not that there was much to distract her besides Logan proclaiming his love for HER - we'd have our work cut out for us getting him to do most of the talking. If he even gives us another shot at being friends, that is._

 _"_ Wait, Mina!" I scrambled as Venus practically went skipping rooftop-to-rooftop, trailing after Logan. "I thought we were giving him space!"  
 _  
_"I am! We're watching him from all the way up here!" Venus sent a wink my way. "Have you forgotten, your Aunt Mina's totally stealthy like that?"

"…" _OK, I couldn't really fault Logan for those moments he went blank on us anymore. Mom, dad...does wondering if Mina's only slightly less crazy than Serena make me a bad friend?_

"Et tu, Rini?!" _Mina would have totally impressed Amy if she was here. It took five years but a bit of Latin finally rubbed off on her!_ "Oh, I get it...we're not exactly dressed the part, are we? We could go poking through Serena's closet for that red ninja outfit of hers after? She'd agree it looks so much cuter on me anyway!"

 _Mina's "red ninja" mention led me right back around to...what's-her-face? Oh, right - the Shadow that Charon left passed out on the rooftops earlier! How could I have forgotten?! Maybe I was silly to think she might have been in my dream - or that she'd still be there - but she might leave a clue or two, at least! And she WAS the one who kicked this whole thing off with her blabbing!_  
 _  
_"Actually, I just...remembered I'm grounded. Keep an eye on Logan for me, will ya?" _For a sec, I thought Mina might be happy...she'd have Logan to watch all by herself for a whole night. Instead, she broke her stride and went all pouty-faced._

"Since when did you become a stickler for the rules?! Fine, I'll drop you at home." Mina sighed. _A blind bat could see that Mina didn't want to bring me back. Not that she HATED having me around...I knew better than that now. But cute guys always came first...even back when she offered to take me to the park, it was so that she could go all googly-eyed over the hunky actors filming there.  
_  
"Why not keep after him and let me get home on my own, Mina?" I saw guilt building up in her face from the moment I said it. "We've got no idea where he's staying - "

"VENUS! MINI MOON!" THEN we spied a certain familiar, nagging voice from down below calling out our names. _Artemis should know better than to go blabbing in the middle of the night...OK, maybe he was worried about us, but still!_ Lucky for us, he was too far back for even Logan to hear him... _but that meant we were too._

"Besides, Artemis is way more sneaky than I am!" I teased. Venus stuck her tongue out at me... _K, so at least she'd rather hang out with me than Artemis, but she still looked really guilty over the thought of leaving me alone_. "Go on, I've made it home by myself before! Go stop that yappy cat! Future Queen's orders!"

""Future" being the key word, Little Miss Grounded! Artemis bosses me about enough!" Realizing Logan was putting quite a bit of distance between us - _and Artemis was closing the gap -_ Venus stared pleadingly at me. "Are you sure, Rini?"

I smiled and nodded, making my point by darting off the opposite way. _This was the right thing to do...it's what Mina wanted. The rest didn't matter...right?_

At least I had a bit of sleuthing to get my mind off my feelings.

* * *

I couldn't exactly leap tall balconies in a single bound just yet - _not the way Mina could -_ but I found my way back to the very rooftop that certain cackling Shadow spilled the beans. _I couldn't believe what I saw...she was still there! How long were Charon's sleeper holds supposed to put people out for?_ _!_ But she really was the very same Shadow, right down to the beads wrapped around her hood and the purple heart-like cape clasp _. I didn't know what I was expecting to find under there, but as my fingers reached towards her hood, I half-expected myself to find Sailor V's mask peeking at me from under there. Two things I wouldn't expect to find on the other Shadows...but even if Artemis and Luna somehow missed one, would they really let an ex-Sailor Scout join them after all that "blah blah, Sailor Scouts are evil, blah blah blah" mumbo jumbo they always went on about?_ But JUST before the tips of my fingers finally reached, her form started flickering in front of me, like a 21st-century lightbulb that needed changing...

"Obsolete piece of - " _That was her raspy, shrill voice, except it wasn't coming from the Shadow lying in front of me. It was from behind -_

 _UH-OH!_

Before I even had a chance to grab my wand, she held me in a lock with one arm wrapped around my neck and another to keep me from reaching. All she had to do was twist her body slightly to keep me from doing anything with the arm I did have free, and flailing my legs about to kick her in the shins or step on her foot got me nowhere. _Only a Sailor Scout of Jupiter or Uranus' strength could have pried her off_ , _and I was neither one._ I couldn't even reach down to bite because her arm was wrapped under my chin.  
 _  
_"CHARON? VENUS? SAILOR...MOON?!" Little wisps of air still crept into and escaped from my lungs, but I started to feel REALLY dizzy. _So this is what being put to sleep...what being on the receiving end of Charon feels like._

"Helios? SOMEBODY?! Help..." _  
_  
"Mmmm...nah, this'd be a little TOO easy!" The Shadow hissed a whisper in my ear...then she just shrugged and dropped me to the ground. I felt a heap of blood rushing for my brain at once when she released her grip, though it didn't do anything for my MASSIVE headache and numb limbs.

"I could fib and say we had some epic showdown, but lying wouldn't be setting a good example for the kids now, would it?" _Oh God, tell me she doesn't mean SHE has kids!_ "I'll throw you a bone, pampers! How 'bout we have a go without any powers, lemme kick you around on an even playing field?"

 _We'll see which one of us needs pampers when I'm through with you! Wait - what was I thinking?! If EIGHT of us struggled against just one, what chance did I have all by myself?!_ But then I saw that wide, yellow tooth-faced grin mocking me... _and whatever chance I had of ripping it off her face was worth it. If Sailor Moon could beat worse than her, there was no reason for me to just give up! Sailor Scouts never give up, whether Charon's here to help me or not!_ My hand reached for my wand on instinct... _but I had to admit, I wasn't gonna get very far with it._

"Fine, we'll play by your rules!" I planted both hands squarely on my hips instead. "I can believe the Shadows have been around since the end of Silver Millennium because I can see none of you have brushed since then! Big hearts trump big mouths every time, and that's the one thing Sailor Moon has over you! With my pearly-whites, I'll punish you in the name of the moon of the future!" _  
_  
"You call ME the big mouth?! You were huffing and puffing a second ago, yet you STILL had enough breath for that stupid speech!" _She sure reminded me of that jerk in my dream. I've gotta give her SOME credit though...at least she waited until I was finished before she went about rolling her eyes_. "You want me to tear off a piece of my cape and blindfold myself? Your babysitters already did a number on it anyway - "

 _SHUT UP ALREADY!_ At least it made for a good distraction: she was so occupied by her own prattling that she didn't even react to my lunge. I was able to grab on to a couple strands of greasy black hair peeking outside of her hood. "YYYYOOOOWWWW! I DIDN'T SAY "CATFIGHT!"" She squealed louder than Serena after stubbing her toe, so I slapped the Shadow hard across the face. _Bet she regretted underestimating me now!_

"I gotta hand it to Princess Moonie, kid," she growled. _Oh, she was SO gonna get it for calling me 'kid'! "_ I didn't think she could spawn an even bigger brat, but she's clearly outdone herself!"

"Quit acting like we haven't met before! I remember who you are!" _Wait, who was she again? Suko Scout? Subaru Scout? What did we call her in my dream?_ "You're...Chumpy...SOGGY SCOUT!"

"You got that backwards, twit! You're Chibi - Usagi - WHATEVER YOU CALLED ME!" She screeched back. The one thing I enjoyed more than getting under her skin was landing a kick to her leg just below the knee. _This was way easier than I thought. All that classroom teaching paid off after all! Maybe the others HAD just gotten lazy!_

"Oh yeah? If you're no Scout, why'd you go poking around my dream world and meddling in my friendships, like something Sailor Moon would do except not in an evil way?!" _OK, maybe that last point about Serena was a bit too much. A little bit.  
_  
"Where'd you get the idea that I ever pranced about in some flitty skirt? You don't hear ME coming on to YOU with cheesy Scout pickup lines like "we've already met before in our dreams!"" The Shadow - _Chumpy Soggy SHADOW-Scout it was! -_ mimicked a throwing up noise. "If Charon hadn't killed my partner, I'd have nominated him for sainthood by virtue of putting up with you a full twelve hours!"

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR DRIVING HIM AWAY!" _Screeching the fact that Charon wasn't hanging back, waiting for the right time to swoop in, probably wasn't the best idea looking at it in hindsight...but I didn't really care in the moment. And I still didn't: the Shadows were all so smug and arrogant thinking they knew everything about us. I'd be the one to make them think twice about underestimating us. Underestimating me. My friends too...they'd finally take me seriously after tonight._

Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout made me wish I paid better attention: she'd been narrowly missing my flurry of blows while my mind was off on another planet, and I missed a perfectly-good opportunity to drive another heel into her. Pointing to herself all innocently, she went babbling again: "So maybe I was a LITTLE blunt, but it's not like I whispered "pssst, make him wear the bracer" in your cat's ear! Not being able to so much as take that thing off to scratch an itch would make ANYBODY cranky!"

 _I hadn't even thought about that! Poor Charon! ..._ Errr, that and the rest of what she said sapped my momentum too. _It stung knowing she was KIND OF right...I'd never know now if the others would have told me and Logan the truth eventually. And if Logan did reach out to someone, it wouldn't be me...Mina was his silent guardian, and I was here. Who knows what they might be doing now? If he knows Mina's there...if he'd even be mad if he caught her following him...if she's comforting him in his room...NO! FOCUS ON CHUMPY SOGGY SHADOW-SCOUT, RINI!_ "Fine, so I can't blame you for everything! You still didn't tell him with the best intentions!"

"Psychoanalyzing me, what fun!" Chubby Soggy Shadow-Scout snickered. "Your turn! Hmm, lemme see...you've got a bad case of tween angst cuz you're so used to every gal and guy doting on you! But here, the apple of your eye barely acknowledges you exist cuz he's not into the super-needy type, or...wait, aren't you like nine-hundred years old or something?! Ewww! Quit blushing over him, Pedobear!"

"I'M NOT, YOU STUPID HAG!" _I didn't even stop to ask where she got the whole "nine-hundred years old" thing from, or what she just called e...a few good blows wouldn't cut it at this point. I wanted Shadow-Scout to suffer._ She caught me mid-tackle this time and held me up in the air, far away enough to avoid my swipes. Her hands pulsed with dark magic, threatening to cut right through my leotard. _OK...now I was scared again._ But I opened my eyes to the creak of her fingernails scratching against my compact as if she was scratching them on a chalkboard. Then, before I could do anything, she ripped my compact off my ribbon. My body - everything below my neckline glowed, flashing as white as the stars peeking through the clouds bringing snow, then went dimmer and dimmer before my Sailor Scout uniform disappeared under a mess of unraveling magic ribbons. The warmth of my magic gave way to the brutal winter air grasping my bare arms and legs, and as cold as I already was...I felt even colder now.

"Cheater!" My last traces of disbelief evaporated when I looked down to my legs, finding my skirt was blue again and my only other protection from the elements were socks and school shoes. As if I couldn't be any sicker of that grin beneath Shadow-Scout's hood, she further gloated by tossing my compact up and down in the air with one hand. _I'd been so stupid...I wanted to believe so badly that I could teach her a lesson, that I could even beat her, that I played right into her trick. And I was gonna pay a pretty big price for it..._

"Strange...I half-expected a rose to fly past my head right about now. Are your babysitters on strike?" _Cheater Sulky Stupid-Scout was right...WHERE WAS EVERYBODY?! I hoped for Charon to come back, but I also thought Venus might double back around to make sure I got home safe, or Tuxedo Mask might make a dramatic last-minute save like he always did...or Pegasus might even come back to me, say that he made a mistake and that he was sorry. But nobody else was here!_ She tossed my compact and sent it skidding along the floor, as if she were skipping rocks along the lake. Mockingly, she cried out "go fetch!"

Humiliating as it was, I made a leap for my brooch. _I wasn't going back to being that helpless kid who always depended on everyone for help._ I dove and caught it just in time...though I wobbled on the edge of the roof thanks to the mix of snow and ice. _It felt a lot harder to keep my balance now that I wasn't a Sailor Scout._ But Shadow-Scout didn't let me change back: the flaring hiss of dark magic was my only warning before she tossed a fizzling black-purple knife my way. Barely leaning away in time, I lost my balance and just barely caught the rusting guardrail of a rickety stairwell. Shadow-Scout came jumping down on top of the stairway...and her weight was all it needed to collapse, sending me tumbling into the snow below. I was caught between the rusted pieces falling on top of me, and not enough snow to cushion my landing...though there was more than enough to hide the compact that slipped out of my hand during the fall.

"Sorry about pulling off the kiddie gloves early!" _As insincere an apology as I could expect from the likes of her._ "I love your spunk, but getting beat up by Cotton Candy's still the most embarrassing thing that can happen to any Shadow!"

"You'll never live this one down, then!" Even with an aching back, I went right for Shadow-Scout's arm with wide-open chompers as soon as she turned her back on me. _Now, I didn't even care about winning - I just wanted to hurt her_. I thought I'd be fast enough to catch her by surprise, but she turned around at the very last second and yanked one of my dress' blue straps before she held me up over her head.

"Keep your rabies to yourself!" Shadow-Scout flipped around and tossed me full-force through a restaurant window. As if that wasn't enough, I rolled across the floor and on the shattered pieces of glass as I tumbled through the window, yelping as they easily shredded my glass and cut into my skin.

"Look what you made me do! You forget THAT outfit doesn't magically fix itself?" The sound of glass cracking beneath Shadow-Scout's boots signaled her calm pace towards me. Looking up, I noticed little red drops staining a couple of those pieces. _My blood._ "What a selfish little dweeb, wasting your poor nanny's time with sewing...she may wanna save a couple of stitches for herself."

 _I'm NOT letting you get away with threatening Plu! Get up, Rini!_ Aching and bleeding and sore all over with a torn strap, I had to lean on the table before I found a plate to throw at her. Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout cheated AGAIN: like Charon, she disappeared into thin air and reappeared behind me with a plate to smash over MY head, then she slammed my head into the table and sent me crumpling into the tiles below.

"Yeah, that's what growing up really feels like." Shadow-Scout walked in a slow circle around me like a hungry shark just waiting to finish me off. What little energy I had left went towards crying on the floor: _I really was all by myself this time._ Shadow-Scout's gloved but still bone-chilling hand picking me up by the throat was almost comforting next to that _._ "I miss being a kid, thinking the Sailor Scouts were really all that. But nah...I was never one of you. I never would have gotten the chance. You see, being a Sailor Scout isn't something you can earn. You know that better than anyone, between your whimpering blubbering crybaby of a mom and a certain pair of pathological backstabbers. And THAT'S why the happiest day of my life is when Charon said we didn't have to put up with you putrid skunks anymore." _  
_  
 _This wasn't what Charon wanted...not the Charon I knew. There was still one way...and nothing - NOTHING - was gonna stop me from seeing Crystal Tokyo again. Mom...dad...please don't hate me for this..._

"You don't know...everything...about me. I already grew up..." Before her growing orange eyes caught on, my free arm reached through Shadow-Scout's sleeve until I cut my hand further on one of the dark shards that Shadow-Scout had shown off earlier. _My chest rose with a surge of raw power that loosened Shadow-Scout's grip and sent her flying backwards into several tables before the wall stopped her. And for the first time since I talked to Charon on that rooftop...I smiled._

"Bet you didn't see THAT coming!" _Truth be told, I hadn't entirely known what I was doing either._ It suddenly dawned on me that I was still holding something rather large and sharp in my hand...I couldn't help thinking 'ewwww' when I looked down and saw it was a crudely-cut dark shard freshly torn out of her body. But soon it didn't matter, as a dark fog escaped the shard and covered me as if it was a shawl. _I felt warm again, even if it wasn't the same kind of warmth the Silver Crystal provided me with_. _I'd wondered if the dark shards Charon and the Shadows used were related to the Evil Black Crystal that nearly wiped out Crystal Tokyo. I felt the same as I did all those years ago..._

Before, I would have screamed when I saw the reflection of a phantom hovering over me, like a black hole in the form of a woman with flowing pigtails like Serena. _Down to the same bumps on her head, but they weren't round like hers...they were pointy, like mine._ Her only other feature was her glowing red eyes... _and then, my own started glowing pure red, until I could no longer see any whites or blacks in them_. _I could still see my 12-year-old self within that fog, standing underneath the older phantom in a tattered dress...but I felt stronger than I had in a long time. Not even the slightest trace of fear when Shadow-Scout squeezed her way out from the rubble she plowed through.  
_  
"Fine! We're even on the "no powers" clause! Happy now?" She was clutching her arm at the spot where I had torn the dark shard out, leaving drips of blood on the floor underneath. _Now, I was the shark._ She nearly tripped over backwards when she looked over my head like she could also see the phantom. "Impossible! Wiseman's long gone!"

"WHO SAYS I NEED THAT SMOLDERING ASH HEAP?! YOU'LL REGRET EVEN BRINGING UP HIS NAME!" Like I didn't have enough reasons to want Shadow-Scout dead, she brought all my hatred for my old torturer down on herself too. Without the slightest effort, a small dark crystal monolith appeared out of thin air beside my hand. Like a sugar crystal, it grew and grew until it was big enough for me to hurl towards her like a spear. Sending it her way DID take some effort - and she missed - but I was giddy as I was when I was a schoolgirl. "I can throw crystals just like Charon! If only he was here to see what I can do..."

"Hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think "impressed" would be his reaction!" I readied another mini-monolith to throw at Shadow-Scout when she threw her arms up in mock surrender. _If I could use dark magic now, did that mean I could beat the Shadows on my own?_ "Hey, it's...getting late! What do you say we call this a draw? I'll even lay off the teasing if you don't tell my friends, you...ALMOST kicked my butt!"

 _As if I was gonna fall for that one._ "Not that I think you have many friends, but I think the Shadows will be more understanding when they find you smeared all over the wall like jelly on toast!"

"The boss said Wicked Lady was hammy as could be! You're a sociopath!" The sweet music of Crybaby Stupid Screwed Scout squealing for mercy drowned out that little whisper in my head reminding me that Sailor Mini Moon would never say something like that. _But as Sailor Mini Moon, I was weak...I couldn't have found my way out of a paper bag without help. I didn't need that stupid compact or glowing horsey anymore, all I needed was the dark shard in my hand. And that made me the happiest I'd been in a long time..._

"AHAHAHAHAHA! AHHHAHAHAHA!"

 _ **(Sorry Everyone!) To Be Continued...**_

* * *

 **A/N:** *Peeks nervously from behind flame shield* OK, so I understand if deciding to split the finale AGAIN - and ending on a cliffhanger! - makes me really unpopular with some of you guys who have waited so patiently! Real life's been kicking me in the butt lately and I've got another month to go before I get a break from grad school, plus I give myself a high bar to reach for finales (you may remember SoSM's took me a while, too). While the ideas for the final, FINAL scene are there, I feel like it needs quite a bit more ironing, so I decided - yet again - it's better to share part of the ending with you guys then risk keeping you waiting any longer. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to iron out the last kinks and work on the final FINAL chapter this week - we don't have much farther to go, I promise!

If there is a silver lining to splitting the ending so much more than I planned, it's that I've been able to flesh out more scenes without worrying as much about word count. One soft spot for me is Rini's friendship with Mina. Sailor Venus is my favorite Sailor Scout (Chibi Moon's definitely moved up a couple spots since I started writing though!), but giving their friendship more of the spotlight became a welcome surprise for me writing it. Nurse Venus is still one of my favorite episodes from the show, and I like to think they still have a bond that goes past Venus' duty to her future Princess. But another part of the fun was flipping their dynamic around: we know Mina's a very caring person at heart, but she could also be selfish and she isn't above bumping her friends out of the way when a cute guy's involved. Even a scene played out for comedy - Mina's ulterior motive for volunteering to take Rini to the park to play, in the episode where they first met Hotaru - could be viewed in a way that makes Mina look a little more sinister, especially in Rini's current emotional state.

And that leads me back around to what may be another surprise decision if you haven't read or don't remember SoSM: Logan cutting ties with the Sailor Scouts. Both when I first wrote it, and again when I tweaked the dialogue a bit to give Rini more of a role, I worried that Logan might suddenly come across as unlikable...but hopefully you'll see his decision in light of the fact he REALLY hasn't known the Sailor Scouts very long (a couple of hours) and they've done something to him their 14-year-old selves would probably have never done. I think Logan's resentment runs deeper than the arguments I remember from the show: except Rini, the others never gave him much of a chance at all. Even after he proved himself, even his closest friends chose to keep him in the dark, coming clean only when our newly-unveiled villain forced their hand.

As for our villain...I admit, picturing that last fight scene made me uncomfortable even after I tweaked Shadow-Scout's lines to be less sociopathic. So I don't blame you if 12-year-old Rini's beatdown at the hands of a Shadow was hard to swallow. Chibiusa getting bloodied up has its precedence in the manga though :/ and I felt it was that last push over-the-edge that she needed. I admit too, that sometimes I use the DiC and original names interchangeably (meta moments aside :P) but I just CAN'T get used to "Black" Lady...so Wicked Lady sticks. I didn't feel like a "full" transformation fit the scene and I wanted to create a cooler visual, so hopefully the one of 12-year-old Rini still visible beneath the dark magic "consuming" her does the trick!

So...that's my apology-and-explanation piece *ducks behind shield*. I hope you guys will stay with me for (what I promise will be) the finale, even if I expect some unhappiness over my latest cliffhanger. Happy Thanksgiving, and I can promise I'll be allotting some of that break time towards bringing Rini's (or Wicked Lady's?!) story full circle! Thanks for reading, everyone!


	14. A Wicked Comeback

**Chapter 14: A Wicked Comeback**

"Don't tell me Chumpy Soggy Stupid Scout's scared of a little kid!" _A 'little kid' with a phantom of her older self hovering over her and glowing red eyes...but so what? I was enjoying our role reversal way too much!_ "You didn't see ME grovel! Even after you cheated and threw me off the top of a building!"

"Hey, I admitted it was KIND OF over the top - oh fine, I'll give you that one!" _Oh, Chumpy Stupid Screwed Scout or whatever your real name is...there aren't enough comebacks in the world to bail you out of this one!_ "You know, Wicked Rini, I just remembered...zany fantasy I had while reading my boss' old notes! I remember thinking the two of us and Wiseman might have been besties! Sure, now you've got it in for the old geyser, but how about tossing back a certain appendage you borrowed from me earlier and trading notes over tea? I'm sure we have loads in common!"

"We don't share a penchant for names, that's for sure." _Even 'pampers' and 'cotton candy' reeked of more creativity than 'Wicked Rini', like I was gonna let her call me that!_ I raised the dark shard she just begged me to hand back. That stone had a way of sucking in the light around it, so much that it barely reflecting the red glow of my eyes. But I could still see my reflection through it: my tattered dress, the frayed ends of my hair, even the imprint of her hand left from when she stole my brooch. _No witty comeback was gonna make up for the beating she gave me earlier. I wouldn't give up my new powers if mom and dad walked in right now and saw me like this!_

 _Errr...well, not that I WANTED my parents seeing me like this. Dad in particular would be so disappointed in me, though momma would be too. But if Serena and Darien had just showed up like they always did, I wouldn't have had to! Or if Mina had come home with me instead of running off to mash face with Logan! OR IF HE HADN'T ABANDONED ME IN THE FIRST PLACE!_

I nearly let myself get distracted AGAIN, but the sound of rattling dishes drew my eyes back to Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow-Scout. I thought maybe she was trying to pull a getaway trick, but I realized I was the one doing that to the plates. _Maybe because thinking about all my "friends" made me so mad. But that gave me a fun idea._

"On second thought, maybe we don't have a lot in common YET. But I know where we can start!" All it took was a tiny flick of my wrist to levitate the dishes in mid-air, coating them in the comforting glow of dark magic. _How badly I wanted to rip Chumpy Soggy Stupid Scout's hood clean off to see what her face looked like right now!_ "After I crack some plates over YOUR head, that'll be one thing!"

"How about taking it down a notch? Just a little one, before you make my boss' notes on you read like fluff piece?!" _You should have kept pleading, Stupid Shadow..._ I returned her little barb with a flick of my wrist, sending every makeshift missile in the room flying her way. I winced in annoyance as she dodged each one without much effort and went spewing more nonsense. ""Fear Wicked Lady", he said! "She'll call you an airheaded patty melt and wave an umbrella in your face," he said!"

""Airheaded patty melt!" How'd I forget that one?" I giggled just when Chumpy Soggy Stupid Scout vanished into thin air. _She can work her mouth and limbs at the same time, I'll give her that much._ _That cheap teleportation trick again, I was wondering how long she'd go before pulling one of those! I wonder...if I've got all of her other powers too, could I...YES!_ In the time it took to blink my eyes, I reappeared with my hands around Chumpy Soggy Stupid Scout's neck after coming out of... _wherever it is the Shadows and Charon go to when they use that power._

"Too bad you didn't leave much of a window for me to throw you into. Oh well!" I settled for lifting Stupid-Scout over my head - _I could picture Lita's eyes popping out of her head, if only she was here to see it too! -_ and slamming her back down on the glass pieces that had torn through my skin earlier. But all the glee of doing the same thing to her was short-lived, because I felt like my skin was being pricked again at the very same moment Stupid-Scout hit the floor. Squeezing my shard tighter didn't help, it just widened the gash in my hand even more. But nothing stung quite like the echo of a voice I thought I'd never hear again...

 _"Please...come to the Forest..."_

"No..." I mumbled out loud. _No! SCREW YOU, HELIOS! I CAME BACK TO YOUR STUPID FOREST AND THAT'S WHERE YOU DUMPED ME, YOU JERK! KEEP YOUR FUR FACE OUT OF THIS!_

"I have traveled...all night long...just to see...only you."

Wait a sec...I heard those exact words before. A long time ago...that was way back when we first met.

I could feel Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout trying to squirm out from under me. _One of her hands was dimly glowing...she was clenching something in her fist._ Whatever it was, I wasn't letting her wiggle out of this one.

Every muscle in my face tightened as I dropped my full weight on top of Soggy Scout's chest and dug my fingernails into her neck. "Like you didn't give me enough reasons to hate you?! I never wanted to hear his voice again! I HATE HIM!"

"Who are you...going on about? ...Ack..." _I had her right where I wanted her...straining to talk, let alone pile on top of the name-calling. Now she was reduced to trying to act her way out of this one, pretending she didn't know what I was talking about and looking towards her outstretched hand._ As she did though, I looked back down at my hands. _It reminded me of my last dream_... _where I was Wicked Lady, and I was holding Death Phantom Junior's chain as if he was my servant. I was strangling Helios in my dream, then I took Charon's sickle and..._

"Just believe in me...please" Helios' voice again. Except...he sounded like he was straining to talk this time. Even when he was crying out for me to rescue him, he didn't sound quite like THAT. I was sure about it.

My heart fluttered in a way it hadn't since I first saw Logan's face on that rooftop. _And the time before that, seeing Helios and the Crystal Forest for the first time in years, in one of the few parts of my dream I could remember...besides him dumping me in Elysion. I thought I put my feelings for Helios aside, but I just had to know if there was still hope._ I reached for the glowing light clutched tightly in Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout's hand. _And just like an image from my dreams, Pegasus' magnificent white form stretched his wings in front of me..._

 _"Rini...HELP ME!"_ Helios' sudden plea, his voice filled with distraught terror, was followed by the blood-curdling shriek of a tortured horse. The image before me shifted into one that matched: Pegasus as I remembered him, except twisted into a form much like my own, his legs bound by chains that twisted his knees in directions they shouldn't go and black shards bloodying his once-majestic coat. _And those eyes...those horrible red eyes...just like mine..._

 _Helios...could that really be you? Are you really calling for me to help you again?_

"Works for me, I guess!" A shrug was the only other warning I got before a newly-reinvigorated Shadow-Scout flipped me off her chest and rushed outside the door in a mad sprint. Like a twit, I peered up at the ceiling hoping I might catch another glimpse of Pegasus. _But he was gone. Again._

He wasn't really there, to start with. Like he'd come to me for help again, especially if he could see what I looked like now. He was always judgmental like that, even when we were friends. Face it, Rini...Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout conned you. AGAIN.

"When I catch you, I'll rip off your face before you can flash THAT STUPID SMIRK AGAIN!" _Errr, maybe Shadow-Scout had one point...that DID sound pretty dark, even for my current mood._ But my grown-up self remained fixed on catching her, pushing both my longer - but still undersized - legs in pursuit of the harpy. I caught the wisp of Shadow-Scout's teleport just before she rounded a corner. The dark magic silhouette that blanketed me thickened, shielding me as I punched through what was left of the store window running after her...but I nearly tripped at the sight of another gray-and-black robed Shadow glaring down ominously from the opposite rooftop.

"And who are you supposed to be? Chumpy Soggy Stupid Scout's very own Tuxedo Mask?" _Another thing I would never have said without the shard in my hands:_ whoever the other Shadow was, he just glared at me with those obscured eyes, then he casually leaped off the edge and landed on his feet. _A landing the Guardian Cats would have envied...the only other Shadow I saw being that graceful was Charon._ And then I saw the lower half of his face - I'd seen him so much before, his mouth and nose were enough to give him away. "CHARON?! Is that really you?! It is! You came back! I knew somebody would come help - "

But Charon, who'd been standing perfectly still as I ran towards him blabbering, stutter-stepped backwards when I opened my arms wide for a hug. In the black abyss of his face, I could see the red glow of my eyes reflected. I followed his eyeless glance to the black rock still cutting into my hand. _What an idiot I was for thinking he might actually be impressed to see me looking like this. This was...this felt even worse than imagining my mom and dad finding out!_ The dark shard slipped from my pale fingers and I desperately stammered "it's not what you think!"

"..." Even as the phantom over me faded away and the dark magic shawl started unraveling around me, Charon just stood there. Totally silent. I tried picturing his face from before, imagining what look he was giving me from under the hood... _and all I saw was contempt_. _Down to this very moment, I thought he might have shown just a LITTLE bit of concern, even horror, even a little "sorry I walked away before, Rini." My other friends would have given me that at least. But I didn't even get that little shred of compassion from him. He just stood there. Judging me._

"I tried fighting her by myself, Charon! As Sailor Mini Moon! But I just wasn't strong enough, and nobody would come help me! I waited for SOMEBODY to help!" I fell to my knees, doing everything short of begging him for a response. _I'd even take his disapproval right now!_ But he looked content with letting my imagination keep filling in the blanks. _Like he only cared when Serena and Mina were watching._ He all but confirmed my worst fear when - without a word - he turned his back on me and started walking away again.

I realized then how much of a job Shadow-Scout's crystal had done at keeping all the pain at bay: it all came searing back at once. Every cut, scrape, and broken bone inflicted by Shadow Scout shoved me into the snowy ground... _and I was starting to hate Logan just as much as her right now. So much, I didn't even care about using his real name for all the Shadows to hear..._

"Don't turn your back on me, Logan! If you hadn't the first time, this never would have happened!" I reached around in the snow, fumbling for the dark shard I dropped. _And not just to make my physical pain go away..._ "Fine! Tell Wiseman I said hi when you MEET HIM IN HELL!"

 _I said that just because I wanted to hurt Logan's feelings...because I wanted to make him feel SOMETHING about me. Still, I hadn't planned on stopping at his feelings until I heard the distant wail of an infant. Coming from his direction..._

* * *

It wasn't easy lifting myself back on to my own two feet, but I managed somehow and limped into another storefront after Charon _._ His still had his back to me, but how could I blame him this time? Somebody had just dumped a stretcher in the middle of an abandoned store. _With a crying baby girl still lying in it._

"Logan, I..." _I owe you such a huge apology, don't I? I didn't even know where to start. But the baby's 100% more important right now. That cry sounded so familiar...it didn't seem easy to tell babies screaming apart but I was so sure about this one._ I gasped out loud when she sat up in her crib, still screaming. _The short black hair with the violet shine, those chubbie cheeks, the light violet nightie to go..._ "Logan, that's my friend Hotaru! I know it sounds crazy, but she's a Scout like us!"

Charon surprised me by throwing a gloved hand in front of my chest when I ran up beside him to get to her. His hand was as cold as the brisk winter mix outside - _those gloves did less for his outfit than I thought. Maybe he was wary that this was a trap?_ "We can't just leave her there. Maybe Plu's somewhere nearby - she'd NEVER abandon Hotaru! It COULD have been Amara and Michelle, they've been really awful lately, but I still can't believe they'd sink this low! We - hey, what are you doing?!"

Charon - _again -_ didn't show any sign of paying attention to my thinking out loud. He just waltzed past me and stood over Hotaru while I was talking. By the time I got to the end of my sentence, he just lifted Hotaru up by one leg and held her dangling upside down. Poor Hotaru screamed at the top of her tiny lungs while I stood there breathless. I still couldn't believe what I was seeing when I reached for her.  
 _  
_"Didn't you have those flour dolls in American high school, Logan?! You can't hold a baby like that!" _After laying into him earlier, I wanted so badly to give him the benefit of the doubt. But that got harder and harder the more he hoisted her out of my reach. And then Charon did the unthinkable_...he just tossed Hotaru over the stretcher and towards the window as casually as if he was pitching a baseball! Although I was still reeling from getting beat up by Shadow Scout, I darted towards Hotaru and caught her in mid-air. Then I felt like I landed on another sheet of broken glass, with sharp pains and aches squeezing every nerve end in my body again.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, LOGAN?! DID YOU GO AND SWITCH SIDES BECAUSE WE HURT YOUR FEELINGS?!" _This wasn't Wicked Lady screaming at him...I couldn't believe who bought everyone breakfast this morning without taking credit would do something so horrible!_ "So you DID totally miss the fact that I was on your side through the whole lying-to-you thing!"

 _No. My first instinct about Logan had been right all along...and so soon after Shadow-Scout tricked me with Pegasus' face. I'd been so desperate to believe that Logan came back that I missed the obvious. My disappointment in myself for believing he was even worse than the other girls pegged him to be surpassed the horror of Hotaru GROWING in my hands. I felt her growing taller and taller until I saw the girl I had been cradling was past my age...and a larger pair of hands went straight for MY neck. How many more times was I gonna fall for Shadow-Scout's mind games?!_

"Tux a no-show? Has that happened before?!" _Assuming Shadow-Scout let me live to play another one of her games. There she_ _was, prancing behind her mimicry of Charon, acting all victorious_. "I honestly feel bad for you now, Wicked! Maybe you could sue him to court for future parental neglect. I can just see the faces in court when they see your DNA test results!"

"Can't even skip a chance to gloat to save your own skin, huh?" I hid all my fear behind a snarl. _Now I didn't have the shard OR my compact._

"Lucky for you, I'm on a bit of a schedule, tater tot! How'd I forget to call you that earlier? Or did I? Point is, I know you're awfully attached to that dark shard, but do you really want to hold on to it knowing where it came from?" _THAT'S what she came back for?! How could she have overlooked where I dropped it? It wasn't snowing THAT heavily out! Not that I was gonna tip her off to it._

"You're not scared that I got my cooties all over it?" I took my own turn at mocking Shadow-Scout, though I was still fully aware I was being held in Not-Hotaru's clutches with Fake Phantom Junior...errr, Phoney-Baloney Imitation Charon staring blankly my way at a distance. _I still hadn't given up on the real one...I kept staring at him for hints that was really Logan undercover, waiting for the right time to carry me off to safety. Oh Rini...now THAT'S wishful thinking._

"Sorry, but I don't think you've been with a boy long enough to catch cooties!" Soggy Scout snickered. "If only you stuck with a boy who looked your age, at least! Like Massa...Mazzy-something?" _Masanori._ "Did you just forget he existed? I bet you wouldn't have accused HIM of tossing a cabbage patch kid!"

"You think I believed THAT was Charon?! HAHAHAHA!" _What an actress I was. If I had to choose between Logan finding out I accused him of hurting a baby or Wicked Lady's comeback...I'd choose Wicked Lady._ I wasn't stupid enough to think that was really Hotaru holding me down, but I found myself turning away from her piercing eyes as if she'd catch me lying and tell Logan. _Her eyes...Shadow Scout sure made Not-Hotaru look more convincing than Phoney Baloney Charon._ Then, for no reason I could really explain, Not-Hotaru loosened her grip around my neck, so much that she kept her hands around my neck for little more than show... _not that I wanted to test her reaction time_. And then there was another hard-to-fake sign: the dull glowing purple 'h' on Not-Hotaru's forehead. _Sailor Saturn's symbol! Oh no, what was Soggy Scout up to this time?_

Whatever Shadow-Scout was up to, she did an awfully good job pretending she didn't notice. _Or she just enjoyed mocking me way too much_ : "now don't go She-Hulk on me, but since your man-pony BFF neglected to tell you...clinging to your exes isn't healthy. Now, I know branding Charon an ex is stretching it, there's at least a minimum word requirement - "

"How would YOU define keeping a piece of one's soul, then? MASTER?" It was Hotaru's voice, but my eyes went darting around the room. _It couldn't have been the Hotaru pinning me up to the ceiling right now!_

"OK, Soggy Scout. What trick have you got up your sleeve this time?" I groaned. Loking over Not-Hotaru's shoulder, I could see Soggy Stupid Scout pinging her fingernail against the light that was in her hand. I couldn't see what it was though, because she stood at a bit of an angle.

"Still got a few quirks to work - wait, why am I telling YOU?!" _I dunno, the fact even your own mirages are calling you stupid now?_ Shadow-Scout shoved Not-Hotaru aside to show more of her face than I ever want to see. _And that was just the lower half_. "Maybe I'll share a tip or two AFTER you give me my shard back, Evil Tween Rini! C'mon, Wicked...why wouldn't I want to hand you back to your pals on a silver platter? They're so fixed on Charon being the Trojan horse, they won't hear the adorable pink time bomb ticking right next to them!"

Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout picked quite a time to talk about how distracted the others were, because the sound of Phoney Baloney Charon's screech pulled out eyes to wear he stood. A familiar scythe that Not-Hotaru DEFINITELY wasn't holding before was sticking through Phoney Charon's chest. _Right where his heart should be._ And behind him, Sailor Saturn's symbol grew brighter than I'd ever seen on her imitation's forehead. I could see her now wearing Saturn-shaped diamond earrings and her purple choker in the brief glimpse I saw, before she swung Phoney Charon's front towards Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout. Now the tip of her Glaive was pointed right at the startled puppetmaster.

"Saturn Press Crusher!" With cracked crystal shards already disintegrating around the spot where Phoney Baloney Charon had been impaled from behind, a pair of twisting magic spikes shattered the illusion like an exploding grenade from this century. Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout didn't even have time to react...she took the full blast of her creation's pieces flying into her and flew backwards, away from me. I thought I heard Soggy Scout scream before the thud, but I realized that voice was Hotaru's. _But it didn't come from the one standing before me...in full Sailor Saturn attire, she was just staring ahead with widened eyes. Hotaru's voice had come from far away, like I remembered it from a distant dream._

Only then did it occur to me this could be yet another one of Soggy Scout's tricks to make me drop my guard again. _Sure, having one of her illusions shoot her was a new one, but I couldn't trust anything my eyes were telling me at this point! I saw the real Hotaru, she was just a baby! There's no way she would have grown up by now, Amara and Michelle would have said something or Plu would have come back to tell me!_ With Sailor Saturn's mirage still in her own daze, I broke away from her side as quickly as I could and tried retracing my steps. _I had to find Soggy Scout's dark shard! I needed it! It was the only thing that would save me from being murdered by a mirror image of my best friend!_

* * *

"Are you searching for your compact?" _There was that coldness I rarely heard in Hotaru's voice, even when she was upset. I heard it from her when she was Sailor Saturn though, like when she threatened to run Nehellenia through for capturing our friends. I might have been HER Princess, but the slightest change of tone in Saturn's voice compelled me to turn around._ "Or are you looking for THIS, Rini?"

 _Just a few minutes ago, I wouldn't have cared if Serena and Darien walked in on me holding one of Shadow-Scout's shards. It was worth feeling invincible, beating a Shadow all by myself without Charon or anybody else._ But my worst nightmare repeated itself at the sight of my best friend - _or something that looked just like her -_ confronting me with that very shard in her own hand. _You already wore me down, Soggy Scout - just stop torturing me with these illusions and get it over with!_ But real Saturn or not, she wouldn't oblige. She tucked the shard behind her violet skirt and...smiled, looking just like Hotaru in the moment.

"I suppose I have some convincing to do." _You can say that again, Fake-Hotaru!_ "The Shadow's master does not sound like one who would leave extensive notes about your favorite hat. The white one with the red ribbon that flew off your head in the gentlest of breezes...or at least when we were in the same park. Did Darien even consider one with a strap? Hmm...and I remember you being shorter. Can you convince me YOU are not a mirage?"

 _The memories that brought back...I couldn't help smiling._ "I want to believe you're really Hotaru...but Trista was rolling you around in a stretcher the last time I saw you. You can't be her."

"Hotaru sleeps peacefully in her crib as we speak. Separate from my Earthly form, I am limited in how I can assist you...but you are my friend as much as you are hers." _Sailor Saturn...separate from Hotaru._ She lifted up her arm and Glaive, examining their unnatural shine. "I must admit: possessing the body of another, even this unnatural form, is...something I never wished to experience for myself. Nor can I run this blade through...did the witch who assaulted you reveal her name, by any chance?"

"No, I just called her...uh..." _Oh, this is gonna sound so stupid when I say it out loud!_ "Chumpy Soggy Shadow-Scout?"

Sailor Saturn just curtly nodded with a face of stone. _She was just like Plu and Charon like that...but I didn't need to read her face to know she wasn't using my my nickname._ Even if she wasn't exactly Hotaru, there was one thing I needed to get off my own chest. _I wished I hadn't thought of that analogy as soon as I pictured Phoney Baloney Charon being stabbed through the heart again, but still. I had to admit to SOMEBODY...  
_  
"I really thought that was my friend Charon back there, trying to hurt you - or, baby Hotaru." I dropped my eyes to my scuffed shoes: the least-beat up part of my uniform, funny enough. "But he'd never lay a hand on a kid like that! Ever!"

 _There was a rare show of emotion from Sailor Saturn...squeezing whatever else was in her other palm tighter, wincing away from me. It couldn't be the dark shard, she tucked it away...and whatever was in her hand was glowing faintly. She took that thing-a-ma-jig Chumpy Soggy Scout was using?_ But Sailor Saturn went all stone-faced again and asked, "so Charon presumes your friendship grants him leave to shirk his duties, knowing the position that leaves us in?"

 _Sailor Saturn DEFINITELY sounded like she'd get along with my mom - she had her pretty strict side too. But it was kind of my fault for not giving her the full story yet._ "You might have noticed, other Shadows aren't exactly lining up to help us. The others lied to him, even Sailor Moon and he left. There was no talking him into staying - "

"You never owed him the option of leaving in the first place! No heir of Silver Millennium need ask for anything!" Saturn's eyes turned as cold as the dark shard that she kept from me, but they warmed again with a deep sigh from her. "But...I recall you and Sailor Moon were never ones to command loyalty, as much as you deserved it."

 _Sailor Saturn left me at a loss for what to say. Even now, even my closest friend - a part of her anyway - still doubted that I wanted real friends. Sure, I used the "I'm a Princess Card" when I was in Crystal Tokyo, but that was just for little things like getting extra desserts and getting out of doing homework when mom wasn't too involved!_

The rattling in the store, back the way we came, only meant one thing. _SHE was getting back up!_ "You said there was no putting Soggy Scout down in your current form, right? What'll we do without Charon?"

Again, Saturn raised her arm... _and showed pieces of her white glove were flaking off this time. Like with Phoney Baloney Charon after she stabbed him, only at a slower pace._ "Awakening Hotaru early to fight Nehellenia was a mistake I cannot repeat. I fear we must part ways, but I would never leave without knowing you will be safe."

Sailor Saturn lifted her weapon and swung it down, crying out "Silence Glaive Surprise!" She shrouded both of us in a dense fog that mixed with the wintry mix, smiling to me even as her borrowed form started to fade into the mist. "Your friends will come back for you...as will Charon. And when he does, he will follow you to the ends of space and time. I will make sure of it..."

"Sailor Saturn?!" Still, knowing she had to leave, I ran after her and threw my arms over the place where she stood. Only frigid air met my empty embrace, but I heard the clink of my toes hitting something. _My compact! She left it here for me!_ With no sign of anyone else around, I lifted my compact into the air and shouted "Moon Prism Power!"

"Alright, rugrat!" _Well, it was definitely too much to hope Soggy Stupid Shadow-Scout would miss the pink flash that buried my tattered school clothes back under a clean Scout outfit_. "Hide and seek's over..."

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N:** That's right, I'm still alive! Balancing graduate school, work, and keeping my sanity sure hasn't been easy...even after I was given a reprieve from work, I may still need a leave of absence from school just to catch up on what I should have learned. I tried to have the whole chapter ready for you guys, I really did, but to my disbelief it's been 5 months since the last chapter (and that was already after I split it). Again, I decided something's better than nothing, long as it's ready...these scenes did go through a massive rewrite, I wasn't happy with what I originally had, so I just really hope the wait was worth it...and WILL be worth it for the last 2-3 scenes I have planned.

I know it's been a long time, and I've been TERRIBLE with keeping my promises that the next chapter will be the final one, so whether you've got good or bad notes for me...I'd love to hear you're still out there, that people are still reading! I really do intend to make the next chapter the last one, a fitting lead-in to Shadow of Silver Millennium as well as a conclusion to Rini's side of the story...though don't think this'll be the last of her narrating! Looking forward to hearing from you :)


	15. Heck, It's About Time!

**Chapter 15: Heck, It's About Time!**

"Alright rugrat, hide and seek's over!" Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout's triumphant screech came as my little white hairpieces were still forming. I found myself wishing I could just skip over the nonessential parts, just long enough to shove Soggy Shadow away. _OK, so maybe the Shadows had a few points here and there. They had a way of making me realize how polite and patient every other bad guy we faced was._ It wasn't enough for Soggy Shadow that she almost beat me to a pulp earlier, or that I was still underpowered as without Moon Cosmic Dream Action to call on. She launched herself at me like a rocket, but a green blur knocked her off course and into another storefront.

"Sailor Jupiter!" Nothing was more reassuring to me than the long pink ribbon flowing from her backside. _You sure took your sweet time getting here Lita, but it was so worth it to see you knock out the molars I missed earlier!  
_  
"What a relief, she can still FEEL our punches at least!" Sailor Jupiter tilted her head just enough that I could see her smiling, then went right back to shielding me. "At least your stupid magic barrier doesn't block everything!"

Shadow-Scout took her time pushing herself up out of the snow, clutching the side of her face as she did. "Sorry Sparky, that punch was still a bit of a letdown! I thought it'd make what I did to your tyke look like tickle torture!"

"Don't..." My weak warning came too late to stop Jupiter from looking just where Soggy Shadow wanted. _At all the scrapes and bruises my leotard didn't hide, instead of what was going on in front of her._ I thought we lucked out again when a wall of flame and a cone of frost streaked towards Soggy Shadow from two different directions. But I realized we weren't so lucky when they cleared away the last drops from Sailor Saturn's fog and threatened to engulf us too...

"JUPITER!" The sound of two clumsy footsteps dropping into the snow preceded Sailor Moon's hand reaching out to grab Jupiter's back ribbon and drag her to the ground, a mere instant before Sailor Mercury and Mars' attacks walled off our enemy. _Mars and Mercury knew they could only hurt her so much without Charon, they were covering our escape attempt._ The swoosh of a cape blanketing me was an even bigger comfort... _but I was so keen to avoid seeing into Darien's blue eyes peeking at me through that mask. Sure, my safety came first right now, but what if they'd seen Wicked Lady? What if they suspected it? Surely, they'd question how I held her off all by myself...  
_  
"I'm so glad we found you." _If Tuxedo Mask suspected anything was off about me, his fatherly embrace didn't give it away. I almost sighed out loud in relief, but then I felt so guilty that I wanted to._ As daddy would have, Tuxedo Mask took me into his arms and whisked me away from the maelstrom raging in the street below. Sailor Moon practically dragged Sailor Jupiter after us by the back ribbon, and I noticed she looked as displeased as Lita.

"Mars and Mercury almost hit us!" Sailor Jupiter's voice could have shaken snow out of nearby trees, audible even over the noise of fire and ice colliding below.

"It's not often we catch a Shadow standing in the middle of the road, just waiting for us to attack! Why didn't you just whisk Rini away like you were supposed to?!" As cranky as Sailor Moon could get, her voice rarely matched Lita's. _She was hurting over Charon as much as I was right now. Worse even, because she knew it was partly her fault. Not that feeling bad about it brought him back.  
_  
For a sec, hanging out on the roof for as long as we were, I thought maybe they DID forget we needed Charon to do any actual damage to any Shadow. _At least one as tough as Soggy._ "You guys remember that without Logan, we - " _Nope, they didn't need the reminder. Darien, Serena, and Lita's frowny faces told me that much._

Sailor Moon was the first to pipe up, as I heard Sailor Mars and Mercury resorting to throwing more sporadic, uncalled attacks below. "We can't lead that Shadow back to Cherry Hill. So Raye offered to lead her off our scent, and Amy's helping."

"And you're allowing them?!" _I couldn't believe Sailor Moon, of all people, was going along with leaving our friend behind._

"NO!" Sailor Jupiter blurted out. My eyes interrogated hers for more answers. _And I still had a way of getting what I wanted._ "Well, we are, but just for a little while. Once the trail's gone cold again, Mars and Mercury will double back around to our place - "

"You saw how tough this one is! We're letting them risk their lives for nothing! With how much the Shadows know about us already, they probably know what brand of diapers Raye picks up for her Grandpa!" _OK, Raye might get a little cross if she heard I said that._

I puffed my check when Sailor Moon reached for my shoulder, like that'd somehow fix anything. "You're still mad at us for keeping you out of the loop. I get it. I'm not my own biggest fan right now to tell you the truth - "

"So quit pitying yourself and help me get my friends back!" I swatted her arm away much harder than I meant to. And before my brain could catch up with my mouth again, I ended with, "you already cost me one!"

I regretted those words the second they escaped my mouth. _True, now wasn't the time for a pity party, but Logan leaving wasn't all Serena's fault. It wasn't even a majority share of hers. Seeing Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout finally take the bait, letting Mercury and Mars lead her off that street corner and blasting away towards downtown Tokyo, beat apologizing to the top of my priorities list._

"Even with your powers, you can't fight any more Rini!" Tuxedo Mask pleaded after I wriggled out of his grip. "Don't let what Mars and Mercury are doing be in vain!"

"You think she beat me up easy because I'm not a real Scout?!" The three of them were trading bewildered looks now, but it took me a while to zip my mouth again: "if you think - if you think - CHUMPY SOGGY STUPID SHADOW is gonna let those two roll over her, then all of you are - "

 _At least I had enough self-control to cut myself off before calling them 'idiots'_. _I wasn't holding Soggy Shadow's dark shard anymore. Sailor Saturn showing up cleared every last trace of Wicked Lady...at least, that's what I thought. This wasn't the Rini I wanted Logan to see...or the one that I wanted to be._ So I took a deep breath and tried going back to sweet old - errr, more like sweet NEW - Rini. "You're right, I can't do this on my own. But they can't either. So come with me. Please."

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask locked eyes the longest, but Sailor Jupiter was the first in agreement. "You've got that no-talking-you-out-of-it face, so I'm not wasting any time. Plus, Amy spilled where they're going...she said she'd try losing that Shadow in the Mugen School Zone. What's left of it, anyway."

"Why there?" I asked. _I wouldn't have thought to track them down there. I'd forgotten where it was, really. If they hadn't agreed to come with me, I could have been wandering around the city all night trying to pick up their trail!_  
 _  
_"Raye's not the only one who senses bad spirits where Tomoe's school was," Jupiter answered. "It's practically a ghost town. Every time someone tries to rebuild over the old school, the project just stops."

"I can see why Amy thought of it," I said out loud to myself. But while the other two led the way professionally, Sailor Moon brushed past me and snorted.

"Makes more sense than 'Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow'! Really, twerp?"

"Airheaded patty melt!" _There's one thing about my time as Wicked Lady I'm glad I remembered._ Sailor Moon did stop to look back at me when I wobbled on my knees a little. _I hadn't fully recovered from the pounding Soggy Shadow gave me earlier._ I took it a little slower than I wanted with Serena watching, but I was back to the same confident stride in no time...

* * *

 _Sailor Jupiter wasn't kidding_... _the Mugen School Zone was flat as a pancake the last time I saw it, but coming across skeletal houses and what should have been a shopping district somehow made it look even more creepy. What would Doctor Tomoe think if he was seeing this with us? Not just what became of his life's work, but seeing the whole area around it completely devoid of people. I meant to ask Hotaru how her dad was before I left. That business with Nehellenia didn't leave us a lot of time to chat, and I doubt Sailor Saturn would have known the answer._

"There you are! I heard you weren't much of a sprinter, Foamy!" _Soggy Shadow gave her location away with the same shrill, overconfident screech..._ _she might have left me doubting whether she was the Pseudo Scout I dreamed a bit, but Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow was definitely half something else. Spymaster Charon would have trained the Shadows better than to open their big mouths all the time!_

Lucky for us, Tuxedo Mask's early days tailing Sailor Moon were paying off: he led us into a half-finished shopping plaza that still had open spaces in the roof. He kept us at enough of a distance that Soggy Shadow didn't even know she had been tailed. Across from her was my blue-haired friend, panting for breath on her knees with Sailor Mars nowhere to be seen. Tuxedo Mask held his arm out in front of me just when I lurched towards her. Sailor Moon and Jupiter were in no rush to come to Mercury's aid either.

"We're here in case this goes south," Tuxedo Mask assured me. "But so far, it's all going to plan..."

Maybe it was Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow's strut away from Sailor Mercury that tipped me off. _It wasn't like her to shrug off such a clear opportunity to gloat, like with me._ The cackle that followed proved my instinct was right: "I've got no doubt you're huffin' and puffin' around here somewhere, Foamy. If you're gonna try fooling ME with illusions though, at least put some effort into it!"

Sailor Moon's gasp synced perfectly with Sailor Mercury - wherever she was - giving up on her illusory trick, allowing it to fizzle. "What?! There's no way she could have figured it out right away, unless she's some kind of mind-reader!"

"It doesn't matter!" _I couldn't have made it any more transparent I didn't want them figuring out her tricks...because then they'd wonder how I fought her off despite it all._ I ducked under Tuxedo Mask's arm to face the group: seeing him and Jupiter with Serena-like blank stares made me nervous. "Tell me they shared Plan B with you."

"...Hit her really hard on the head, THEN run for it?" Sailor Jupiter answered following a long "..." from the other two.

"Was that Raye's contribution to the plan, or yours?" I couldn't help asking her. Jupiter just took another peek at Soggy Shadow as if she hadn't heard me. That came just before the click of a heel pounding on the hard dry floor, followed by Sailor Mars scrambling from a dark corner to direct her other heel towards Soggy Shadow's head. _I saw Raye's leg collide with Chad's head before...if she had been just one step closer before she made noise, it would have done the trick. But if we were any better at sneaking around, Queen Serenity wouldn't have needed Shadows in the first place. Even from where we were standing, I knew that if we heard Raye's steps, Soggy Shadow had caught the sound too..._

 _And that wasn't all she caught_...Chumpy Soggy Shadow did a one-eighty and caught Mars' thigh in mid-air, relishing in her waving her arms about before introducing Mars' face to the shopping-complex-to-be's floor. Soggy Shadow found another surprise hidden behind a plain concrete pillar: a fire extinguisher. _We couldn't just stand there and let her whack Raye with THAT!  
_  
"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Sailor Mercury's streams of ice water may have spared Mars from blunt trauma, but Soggy Shadow evaporated in midair without taking the extinguisher with her. Mercury's streams engulfed that instead, causing the whole fire extinguisher to burst and bathing Mars in a cyclone of frost and foam. I couldn't say I was surprised to see Mars fuming after she wiped that off her face...

"Chill out, Smoky!" _Well, we could be sure Sailor Mars was no illusion, because Soggy Shadow came scurrying out to taunt her_. "At least now you have a fresh story for your anger management groupies! No more eye-rolling over hearing you go from complaining about your old geezer, to complaining about the groveling mop-head who worked for him, to complaining about the blonde nimrod who hasn't returned your Sailor V comics after six years!"

"She tells people I stole her comics?!" Sailor Moon nearly jumped in. The three of us tried holding her back, but she whined loud enough for anyone who was in the shopping district to hear: "Raye still thinks SO little of me! I'd give them back if I knew where they were!"

 _Like that makes it better, meatball brain!_

"I guess the plan was a bust anyway," Sailor Jupiter sighed and let go of Sailor Moon's puny bicep.

Tuxedo Mask kept holding me back at a distance though. "I'll drop Rini off and then come back."

"I'm NOT helpless!" Forgetting where I was, I yelled "Sailor Scouts, charge!"

Ignoring Tuxedo Mask, I leaped to the floor below and landed on my heels, across from Soggy Shadow and the two floundering Scouts. I didn't stay on my feet for very long though...maybe I just imagined the crunching noise that came when my knees buckled, but I felt as if my legs turned to powder and found myself lying on the floor in a second flat. I didn't want to give Soggy Shadow the satisfaction of her whimpering as she loomed over me.

"Ah, there you are Gramps!" I did appreciate Tuxedo Mask giving her a distraction, forcing Soggy Shadow to lean away from a thorny rose aimed at her forehead. "Did you wait for a bus because it was too far to walk on your brittle old bones? Oooh...am I being insensitive to Princess Pampers?"

 _If everyone else wasn't here, I'd be tempted to "borrow" another dark shard and remind her how terrified she was earlier!_

Tuxedo Mask theatrically perched himself on the floor up top, standing on the glass pane between two sets of escalators. "Societies can be judged by how they treat their elderly and how they treat their children. That reflects poorly on you and the Shadows, indeed."

"You tell her, Tuxedo Mask!" I cheered before the rest of his speech caught up with me. "Wait, did you just call yourself old?" _NOT TO MENTION THE OTHER THING!_

"Ugh! You know what I hate most about the Silver Crystal?" Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow made a face of disgust. "I can't even die happy knowing Penguin will at least grow too old to stay awake through his own recycled, half-plagiarized intros!"

"You have such little value for even your own life. That makes this easier!" Tuxedo Mask launched a dozen roses into the air, landing in a ring around Soggy Shadow and left standing upright. A gust flew through the unfinished part of the ceiling and blew the razor-sharp flower petals off, creating a hurricane of red that tore through Soggy Shadow's already tattered cape.

"Tuxedo Mask should have been the one to draw her off!" _I spoke too soon_ : no more than two seconds later, Soggy Shadow created a cone of black and purple magic around herself that exploded inside the cyclone of petals, redirecting them our way. _At least I had a head start on the others_ : I was already on the floor, everyone else was left to duck and she was quick to reposition herself beside Sailor Jupiter. Caught off guard, she downed my friend with one good flip over the shoulder, and just lifted her fist to meet Sailor Mars' face when she tried to catch her off guard again.

"Venus picked the crummiest time to go AWOL!" Sailor Moon's hands dragged me up off the floor. "She could have tiedSoggy Shadow up with her Love Chain!"

 _OK...I'm sure I can stand on my own two feet now...even if I still felt like the bones inside were held together by glue._ "That wouldn't work! Soggy Shadow has that cheap teleporting trick!"

"Wait a sec!" Sailor Mercury was far enough behind the line to join in on our conversation, while Tuxedo Mask wadded into the fray to help our fumbling teammates. "It the Shadows could just teleport away like we could, why did they let us destroy them?"

"Because they couldn't wrap up the extended version of "GGGRRR DIE LOGAN, YOU TRAITOR" fast enough?" I shrugged.

"...Maybe, but I don't think so." Sailor Mercury went about calmly getting to the point of her plan even as Sailor Jupiter flew over our heads and tumbled down the half-done escalator steps behind us. "We have to combine our powers to manage the same. Shadows can teleport individually, but we've only seen them use the power tactically: to catch us off-guard and reposition. I don't think they CAN teleport long distances..."

"And this is one big construction zone!" Sailor Jupiter pulled herself up on to the rail just in time to catch on. "So if we can draw her into a big enough hole, she won't be able to jump out after us!"

"Gossiping behind my back?" Soggy Shadow's attention was redirected towards us, treating Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Mask as afterthoughts. After effortlessly swiping Mars' palm and Tuxedo Mask's cane aside, she rocketed towards Sailor Mercury as one big blur. We all jumped aside - _Serena at the last minute, as usual -_ and let Soggy Shadow slam into the gray concrete-colored wall between the escalator steps, sending chunks flying off of it. _Only for Soggy Shadow to re-emerge completely unscathed and go on rambling._ "Come on, Foamy, spill! I wanna hear what the only Sailor Scout with two brain cells in her head rubbing together came up with!"

"Tell me the beating we took during your pow-wow session was good for something!" Sailor Mars, clutching her flank, quietly grumbled in Mercury's ear. _  
_  
"I'm flattered." Sailor Mercury responded blankly to Soggy Shadow's 'compliment', acting as if she hadn't heard Mars' question. The fist she raised Soggy Scout's way sent a clearer message...but I noticed her motioning with her other arm. _Was she telling us which way to direct Soggy Shadow?_

"Don't make me blush, Merc...it's like calling you the shiniest dung beetle. It's not really a compliment!" Soggy Shadow abruptly cut herself off with a loud gasp. "Oh I see what you're up to, herding me through an unfinished shopping center!"

And that halted the rest of us in our tracks too. _How were these stupid Shadows always one step ahead of us?! With everybody slacking off while I was away, it made sense at first, but this was straight mind-reading like Serena said earlier!_

"Back to your old roots, huh? Protect the panty-waist Princess, Earthly peasants be damned?" _Soggy Shadow was just rambling._ _To Amy's immense relief._ "What's the twenty-first century version of the Anti-Scouts? Razing arcades? Special perfume bottle-powered attacks? Swiping muffin recipes?"

 _At least we had one thing going for us...at least one Shadow heavyweight was as loopy as Serena, just with fewer friends. But we still needed to get rid of Snoopy Shadow...ARGH now that we weren't looking for any Shadows, she won't stop following us!_

"We've always stayed true to ourselves. That's more than I can say for the Shadows, or else you would have fought the likes of the Negaverse alongside us!" Sailor Mercury spun about and launched into her routine. "I'm Sailor Mercury, champion of love and studying! And in the name of Mercury, I'll triumph over evil...and that means you!"

"Really?! You're Sailor Mercury?! YOU THINK I HADN'T FIGURED THAT OUT YET?!" _Chumpy Soggy Snooty Shadow REALLY didn't like our speeches either. Well, if Amy WANTED her following, that sounded like a place to start.  
_  
"We're Sailor Scouts, and we don't take kindly to name-calling. OR borrowing my lines without asking permission first!" Not to be one-upped, Sailor Moon couldn't resist bumping Mercury out of the spotlight. Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout launched herself at Sailor Moon like a missile, but Sailor Moon leaped out of the way with a grace I rarely saw from her present-day self.

A cone of fire from Sailor Mars funneled Chumpy Soggy Stupid Shadow further down the path Sailor Mercury set out for us. "And to make our point, we're liberating the name "Foamy" for our own use!"

But with all the firepower going around, Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout was still smirking her head off. _Maybe she thought we were stupid enough to forget there was no beating her without Charon's help. Or she just enjoyed taunting us too much and forgot she was supposed to be whooping our butts right now. Of course, seeing Team Lied-to-Charon bickering with each other mid-speech might have helped her vanity boost._

"Really, Mars? You're indulging her childishness?" Sailor Mercury grumbled.

""Foamy's" not something to get so testy about! Don't turn into a blue-haired crab!" _Sailor Jupiter couldn't help wading in on Mars' side...continuing to direct her best one-liners at Sailor Mercury instead of Soggy Shadow._

"Well, hairy crabs really do exist, so the joke's on you...ZAPPY!" _And Sailor Mercury just tried to one-up Soggy Shadow_. _All while just barely avoiding a dark magic slap from Soggy Shadow as she teleported about. I couldn't tell whether this was all part of Mercury's plan or everyone was just going backwards again._

"Actually, the joke's on you and Mars!" I snapped at all three of them as Luna would have. "You both thought you could do this by yourselves, so save the rest of your insults for OUR ENEMY, will ya?!" _Oh geeze! I was sounding more like Luna, wasn't I?!_

"Not that I went in with high expectations, but you got so lax at the Scouting bit, you can't even have a tangent-free speech!" Soggy Shadow gloated. "I'm almost peeved I wasn't the center of attention!"

"You're gonna love me even less then!" Sailor Venus' voice taunted her from overhead. And balancing on an unfinished rooftop beam, the orange-skirted Scout dropped to our level without reeling on the ground after _._ "Venus to the rescue!"

"Oh great, NOW you show up?!" Sailor Mars only fumed harder when Soggy Shadow magically launched herself towards the new arrival Sailor Venus. Not-to-be-impressed by Venus' effortless leap out of the Shadow's path, Mars grumbled to Sailor Mercury: "and Mina leads her off course to boot!"

"VENUS!" Sailor Jupiter managed to wave her over while smoke blanketed the wall Soggy Shadow had charged into. "We've got our own plan, so dial down the showboating and follow our lead, OK?"

"SERIOUSLY?! You're outgunned, and this is the thanks I get?!" Venus' eyes drifted over to me, still being supported by Sailor Moon. I could see by Mina's softening eyes that she already got the memo. _But I knew Lita was gonna drive the point home, just in case...  
_  
"We're one Scout down because we figured Sailor Moon's second-in-command had it together enough to be a grownup!" Sailor Jupiter clenched her fists. "You ditched Rini to do what, exactly?!"

"I sent her off, Lita!" I threw myself into the middle of the argument. _Our brief break was already at an end..._ Chumpy Soggy Snooty Shadow re-emerged and something told me she figured out her Shadow Charge wasn't doing the trick. A dark magic orb swelled in her hand, which she tossed at us as casually as if she were tossing a softball. The explosion sent all of us flying in different directions across the empty courtyard. _I was separated from Sailor Moon and the others now.  
_  
"Give Wicked a little credit!" I went numb out of fear Soggy Shadow would start blabbing about Wicked Lady, even if the others wouldn't believe it. But then her voice went all shaky, like she had just flubbed a huge speech. "As in the Broadway musical wasn't talked about nearly enough, but I meant give Small Fry a little credit too! She took three times the beating and unleashed the BEAST within! Meanwhile, Foamy keels over after one sprint, Smoky stops-drops-and-rolls after one shower, and Turncoat jumps off the Loony Moon bandwagon after I roll up my sleeve!"

"CHARON is doing just fine despite your best efforts to drive us apart - " Venus looked aghast when Jupiter interrupted by shoving her across the floor and up against a fragile-looking pillar. _She did it for a good reason...if Mina had been a split second slower, and Soggy Shadow would have impaled her with the dark magic spear she created in thin air and threw her way._

"You ever gonna grow out of thinking about yourself every waking second, Mina?" _As much as Jupiter meant well shoving Venus aside, there was no sugarcoating that last barb.  
_  
"This from someone who's first response to every guy is still "he looks like my old boyfriend'?" Venus grabbed Jupiter's arm to push her off. Even with Soggy Shadow zipping around the field - _and the floor of the unfinished building starting to feel A LOT shakier -_ Venus wasn't letting off."Is that why you treated Charon like dirt and helped drive him off?!"

 _Where were the cranky cats when you needed them?!_ This time, somebody besides Chumpy Soggy Shadow put a stop to their bickering. One of Tuxedo Mask's roses whizzed through the air and impaled the pillar between their faces, striking hard enough to crack the surrounding metal. _Even Tuxedo Mask was out of patience.  
_  
"FOCUS! This isn't your first day as Sailor Scouts! Now - " Tuxedo Mask, in turn, was interrupted by the noise of the cracks getting deeper. The column that his rose pierced started to crumble and shatter, with pieces falling off the shaft. _It wasn't my imagination. The whole building was shaking now..._

"Mercury..." Mars stood frozen in place. "We've still got a ways to go, right?"

The entire building tilted to the side as if we were in an earthquake. Out the glass-free window, a ginormous CRATER, littered with cranes and more concrete pipes all the way at the bottom, promised a hard fall to anyone unlucky to lose their grip. _And sure enough, I was one of those lucky ones not tall enough to reach for a railing in time..._.

"I'm slipping!" My fingertips and toes pressed against whatever surface I could get them on. All it did was stall the inevitable, until I got an uncomfortable hold of the windowsill at the last moment. The only relief I got was seeing Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout's teleport trick fail to get HER high enough to reach something else to hold. She came tumbling down towards me, preceded by a shower of falling concrete bits that weakened my hold of the windowsill. I fell out of the building with only a single dangling wire, barely enough to support my weight, keeping me from dropping into the building-deep crater. _Even_ _being a Sailor Scout wouldn't cushion that kind of blow._ And my luck was still rotten, with Soggy Shadow also finding a wire to grab a hold of when SHE tumbled out of the never-to-be-finished complex.

"Guess I didn't give the Inner Scouts enough credit. You have a longer collective memory than goldfish, after all!" _Oh shut up, Soggy Shadow!_

"Sailor Mini Moon, grab on!" Sailor Moon swung towards me upside down with her arms outstretched, as if she was riding a trapeze. Also upside down was Tuxedo Mask, holding on to Sailor Moon's legs as an extension. Sailor Venus' Love Chain was wrapped around his waist: _she and the other girls were still in the building, swinging her Chain from above_ , swinging the chain from above. I tried to grab Sailor Moon's hands, but I would have lost my grip if I had tried swinging my rope. Sailor Moon dangled back across from me. "Come on, guys! SWING!" she pleaded.

"They're...trying!" Tuxedo Mask's exhausted voice squeezed through his gritted teeth. "You've definitely...put on weight this time...Sailor Moon. Must be...American...buffets..."

"Working in one doesn't help either." I didn't mean to say it out loud, it was Sailor Moon's red face that tipped me off to that. _She was still trying to keep that a secret. Oh no, what if Tuxedo Mask heard me? Wait - focus Rini, you've got bigger problems!_

Going splat after a multi-story fall wasn't the only one. Curiosity took hold and I looked to see if Soggy Shadow had plummeted yet. Instead, she'd climbed to the top of her wire... _just in range of a teleport_. She reappeared with her arms tied around my waist, threatening to drag me down with her extra weight. "Least I'm not the only one who sucks at secret keeping! Worse trait for a Shadow to have, but I do my best...my little Trojan!"

"Let her go, creep!" Sailor Moon still needed to be swung farther before she could make another grab for me, but she had her Spiral Heart Moon Rod at the ready. Strained grunts left Tuxedo Mask's mouth - _I knew he was trying to tell her it was a bad idea -_ but "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" came out first...

 _Too bad Tux had his hands full, his roses would have been better for the job._ Sailor Moon's massive energy heart knocked Chumpy Soggy Shadow off without hitting me, but it struck with enough force to make me lose my grip. With the cord sliding through my hands and cutting into my gloves, Soggy Shadow and I both went into freefall. _Was this where Mugen School was?  
_  
"MINI MOON!" Sailor Moon dropped after me with enough speed to catch up, as if Sailor Venus had let go of her Chain. Sailor Moon grabbed my ankle, but the abrupt stop sent us flying sideways. Sailor Moon's panicky face went all blurry as my head met the side of the crater with a loud thud. Serena cried my name again...'Rini' this time, I think, but it sounded like her voice was coming from far away. _Everything just went blank from there..._

* * *

I thought I might have kicked the bucket, for real this time. My eyelids were so heavy, I half-expected to wake up a thousand years later, back in Crystal Tokyo. _Hardly would have been the first time I "died," not that I was used to the feeling._ What a relief it was, seeing the inside of one of Raye's room. _Understaffed as the place was, Raye had done a much better job at keeping the interior décor nice...well, less tattered at least._ The last thing I needed right now was to find this was another Shadow trick and I'd wake up to one of my other friends strangling me. But it was Darien looming over me, and that smile would have been hard to fake. I finally found the strength to sit up: "You carried me all the way here?"  
 _  
_"Your parents would FLIP if Serena and I brought you home as you were." _Yeah, good point Darien. That face...how could I keep anything secret from it?_ "At least I was able to put what I learned in America to good use."

I wasn't hurting so much anymore. Bit of Scout magic helped, but I peeked under my sheets to see he'd done a fair job bandaging up what hadn't cleared. _I'd be wearing long PJ's and long sleeved shirts for a while, but I could manage_. For all his sunny optimism though, Darien's face loaded up with worry when he reached for my hand...

"Even Amy couldn't figure out what cut so deeply into your hand though." _The one I used to squeeze the dark shard I ripped from Soggy Shadow's arm_. _Ewww.  
_  
"It was..." So close to getting the words out, I choked. _I had to tell him Wicked Lady came back out. Darien and I tell each other everything.  
_  
 _We USED to. He was in on the lie to Charon too. Maybe he wasn't Amy, Raye, and Lita-level guilty but he at least turned a blind eye to it, just like Mina and Serena did!_ _But he knows he was wrong - wait, why am I thinking about this like there's two people arguing over it in my head? If I told them about this - or my brush with Wicked Lady - they might take my compact away. They'd use it as another excuse to just dump me back at the little kids' table. Forever. They'd say it was for my own good, to keep me safe, but they'd treat me as a little kid until the day the Shadows finally rolled over them.  
_  
Darien gently nudged me back to reality. "You were gonna tell me what caused that gash?"

"I...I did something really stupid, Darien. I thought I could take Soggy Shadow down all by myself. Then I got desperate and I...tried to stab her with a big chunk of glass after she swiped my compact." _Argh...so close, and I just couldn't tell him the truth. I was looking into his eyes the whole time and lied straight to his face._ A lump in my throat formed as I thought about how mad he'd get once he saw through my fib _._ But he just kept on smiling. _He fully believed me. He didn't even question my version of events._

"Sailor Scouts don't give up. You fought back the only way you could. Your parents would be proud...I think Logan would be too. He'd admire your resourcefulness." Darien may not have figured out then that I...liked-liked Logan, but he leaned away from me when a frown came on. "I'm all for honestly being the best policy, but can we NOT come out and tell him I nearly fudged our get away? He might die laughing."

"I get it, you have a reputation to uphold. Fine, I won't tell him Tuxedo Mask is merely human," I smirked. He didn't quite recover his earlier cheer though. _There was a lot dragging his mood down._

"It wasn't my only mistake tonight." Darien took my neatly-folded dress into his hands... _though 'rags' might have been a better description at that point._ "I...fear we only made your dress worse."

I didn't see what he meant until I saw the crummy stitch-work on the sleeve. _And then he unfolded in his hands...Plu would have had a heart attack seeing what became of her hard work!_ "It looks like something Frankenstein's monster would wear! Gross, Lita didn't even wash out the - wait, why are you saying this was YOUR mistake?"

"I...probably SHOULD have given it to Lita, but she and the others have so much to reflect on," Darien choked. There were little specks of blood on my dress. _Neat little circles that didn't match what Soggy Shadow did to me while I was wearing that_. "I...asked Serena to take a crack at it. She took one class - "

"SPEAKING OF CRACK - never mind, what were you thinking letting SERENA near my dress?!" I could have ripped it from his hands and threw it in his face right there and then. "She took ONE class?! Didn't you guys meet over her throwing a thirty percent test at your head?!"

"I thought it'd be a good distraction for her!" Darien set my sweaty rag down on Raye's wood floor. "Serena's so down about everything, we've been here for hours and she hasn't left her room. I'll pay someone to fix it, OK?"

"I know I did a crummy job. You didn't have to rub it in." _Uh-oh._ Serena's voice came out of the tiniest creek in our sliding door, which she abruptly pushed back in. Darien stood up, but I reached for his sleeve and tugged him back down. I got out and shuffled my feet on Raye's floor trying to catch Serena before she confined herself back to Raye's room.

"Serena!" She didn't even acknowledge me, scurrying back across the hallway as she was. "I didn't mean to sound ungrateful - "

"That's a first." I was almost relieved about getting a mumble out of her this time, except she sounded so miserable saying it.

"That's not - OK, I deserved that," I conceded. "You made mistakes, but you've been trying your hardest to fix them - "

"You know what's easier? Not making the same stupid mistakes over and over again." _Who was this person, and what had she done with the real Serena? I'd never seen her THIS down before, besides maybe when she and Darien were on the rocks._ I tried to catch up with her without saying another word, just wanting to show I was there for her, but she got to the room divider first and slid her door in my face. Mina came up behind me next, but cast her eyes aside when I looked at her. _No, not you too, Mina!_

"Guess our worst days aren't behind us after all," Mina glumly brought up. "We've gotta figure out how to be a team again, before that Shadow digs herself out of that hole." _  
_  
"Did Logan come back with you, by any chance?" _As if I couldn't make things any more depressing_. Mina closed her eyes and shook her head. "I know he's not part of the team, but I kept expecting him to show. I was sure he'd come back."

"He would have if he knew you needed help. I don't doubt that for a second." Mina gave the diplomatic answer. _I wasn't so sure myself._ "Artemis warned me that barging into Logan's room would make things even worse. As much as I wanted to tell him to put a sock in his mouth, my instinct said "trust the old grouch." If I listened to it the first time and walked you home, none of this would have unfolded like it did."

"Don't tell Logan what happened tonight, K? There's enough blame to go around without him blaming himself too." Mina quietly nodded in agreement with my request... _though deep down, I couldn't HELP blaming him. He KNEW I didn't have a fighting chance if he ran off! As much as I knew...it was the others he needed time away from. And I'd been in that place before._

"We were just talking about him..." The gentle patter of Luna's footsteps drew my eyes to the floor. With another trio of footsteps, Raye, Amy and Lita followed behind her. "Rini, Mina...I have a feeling Logan WILL come back. Knowing what the stakes are, I don't think he could sit this out for very long. What I'm not sure is...whether he'll come back to our side. Or what we'll do if he doesn't."

"Treating him like he's our enemy even though he's done nothing but help us is the reason we're on thin ice in the first place! " I snapped.

"I haven't forgotten. Believe me, Rini," Luna pleaded. "I'm scared we pushed him over the edge this time. Not only was he our only ally, he knows where to find us. He knows how dependent we were on him. In spite of everything they said, they'll welcome him and what he knows back with open arms - "

"Artemis stayed just in case the Shadows pay him a visit." Mina measuredly - but abruptly - cut Luna off. "If Logan does walk over to the dark side, we'll talk to him. It's always worked before."

 _Like when Wiseman turned me against them. They had completely forgotten their brush with grown-up me, hadn't they? Not a single mention of Wicked Lady or the possibility I could use the Shadows' own powers against them.  
_  
"Rini's right. We're discussing this prematurely," Amy agreed. "Let him have the night to cool off, at least."

"We hardly know him," an equally sullen Raye chimed in. "How do we know he'll even listen to us after we lied to him?"

""We barely know him" goes both ways." _At least Amy got a bit of her confidence back._

That was enough to see Mina FINALLY break a smile. "I'm in shock. I thought you were annoyed by him."

 _At least everyone was finally starting to lighten up again. Everyone other than Amy._ "What made you think that?"

"Just the way you...you know..." _Aw, come on Mina! FINISH!_ "...Rolled your eyes and sighed whenever he said anything."

"Only when he was sarcastic!" Amy went all sour-faced and crossed her arms. "It's the lowest form of wit, you know!"

 _Uh oh...twitching eyebrow_. "Are you calling Logan stupid?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" Amy shrinking away from Mina almost made me burst out laughing. "I meant the opposite, in fact!"

"Girls, no more getting sidetracked. PLEASE?! The last thing we need right now is Logan walking in on this," Luna sighed. I caught myself leaning past them and standing on my tippy-toes to peek into the doorway, just in case Logan DID pick this time to come back.

"I'm sorry to put you and your Grandpa in this position, Raye, but the Temple is protected by good spirits." Luna paced back and forth on all fours. "Still...I only meant for this to be our base temporarily, and I know that waiting for Logan to come back isn't a plan. I'm scouring every last drop of knowledge we have on the old Moon Kingdom for another way to fight them. Amara and Michelle should have known that Queen Serenity would have bound the Shadows to her with such a terrifying weapon...but they were on the right track."

"Find anything?" Darien, after a long moment alone - _probably sullen over Serena being so unlike herself -_ finally creaked the door to our room open and leaned in on the conversation.

"Just a couple of words...scratched out in the space I found the bracer that I gave to Logan." Luna stared up intently at me. "Queen Serenity did have a safeguard after all. But I sense this one requires a fair bit of power behind it. I believe Queen Serenity meant this for her heirs...a keeper of the Silver Crystal. I can't ask Sailor Moon right now, not with the state she's in."

All eyes suddenly turned to me. _So they weren't being totally altruistic including me on their talk._ But I nodded passively: "what do you need from me, Luna?"

"I don't want to push you too hard after what you've just been through. We can practice more thoroughly with your wand in the morning." _Oh, get on with it already Luna! "_ For now, hold your brooch close to your heart. Focus inward on your own power, close your eyes, and repeat the words after meand repeat after me...Moon Cleansing Absolution."

"Moon...Cleansing...Absolution..." I did just as Luna asked. _I felt the old Moon Kingdom's power within me...Queen Serenity's power. But something felt...off about it_. _It wasn't the same pure, comforting glow that I felt when Sailor Moon used her powers. It felt...tainted, like when I was near the Phantom in my dream. Like when I saw Pegasus again. And when I heard Hotaru's voice screaming as she shattered Soggy Shadow's image of Charon_.

Lita was the first one to call out my shaking. "What's the matter, Rini? How exactly is this power supposed to stop the Shadows, Luna?"

"I'm...not even sure Queen Serenity ever used it, honestly." _It wasn't often Luna admitted to not knowing much._

"I...I don't feel right about this." _Making that admission was hard, but I felt sick even after I lowered my compact._ "We don't even know what this does, I can't use this on Charon!" _I wasn't even too sure using it on the other Shadows was a good idea - I didn't know how I knew, but I did!_

"Understand, we might not have a choice, Rini," coached Luna. "You've been through a lot tonight, maybe I put this on you too soon." _That's not how I remembered Luna, being all condescending and calling me weak instead of listening!_ I held my tongue for the sake of the rest of the group. _But I was boiling on the inside_...

"I get where you're coming from, Rini." _At least Lita agreed with me right off the bat._ "Let's look at it as a last resort, if Charon comes back looking like the other Shadows, minus a bracer plus jagged dark crystals carved into his - "

"I don't think we need a visual, thanks." Green-faced Mina held up a hand to cut Lita off. _At least we were all back to getting along again._ "At least we've got something in the meantime. The Siphon turned out to be a Shadow-spoon fed load of baloney. We have no reason to fear Moon Cleansing Absolution could be anything like that."

"Still, it's your call, Rini. You know we won't force you if you're uncomfortable using it." Luna smiled, trying to get back on my good side. _No, things hadn't changed, it was just lack of sleep driving me crazy. I hoped._ "I hope you'll think about it, though. I don't think Mama Ikuko would object to a feline visitor. We can practice more tomorrow."

"I almost forgot. There's still a TINY chance we can slip you back in without Mama Ikuko finding out," Darien teased. _Better than tiny...I had Sammy covering for me. I owed him SERIOUS overtime. Well, he promised Sailor Mini Moon he'd cover for free, but I'll pay up if he forgets._

"Sweet dreams, Rini!" Mina led the other girls in waving bye to me and Darien. _It was selfish of me, all the friends I had and I was still a Debbie-downer that Logan wasn't waving too. Or Serena. Or Hotaru. But they'd be back. I just knew it! I just hoped I wasn't being naively optimistic, hoping it would be before the Shadows came back. Or Wicked me..._

 **THE END!  
**

* * *

 **A/N:** So first, I owe you guys an apology for ANOTHER ginormous delay :/ I can't wholly blame work and school for this one. I felt burned out and stretched for ideas when I did try to knock the ending out in one week. But I kept pushing and this week, I finally got back into the groove of things. And so, I don't know if this chapter met my high standards, but The Shadows Beckons FINALLY has an ending and we're firmly back in SoSM's timeline! A huge thank you to Lisseas on fanfiction, NoLife-sama on deviantart, and the rest of you who inspired me to push this out. I still have a bad habit of losing interest in things and dropping them. The Shadows Beckon is the story I'm proudest of so far, I feel like it has the tightest narrative and writing Rini in first-person proved to be a larger treat than I ever expected. There's bound to be more of her in the future ;)

Being a prequel, I can't help ending it on something of a cliffhanger. So what's next? If you haven't read any of my other stories before, The Shadow of Silver Millennium was my first Sailor Moon story and introduces Charon/Logan to their world. You get to see a couple of the events covered here from Logan's point of view (don't worry if I've made you a Rini fan though, she's featured plenty in the story!) and the answers to many of the questions I left here await: how Charon died, Chumpy Soggy Shadow Scout's return (of course that's not her actual name :P), whether Serena can pull herself out of her modern-day slump, the founding of the Shadows and the identity of their Spymaster...those are just the ones I can think of at the top of my head! And if you HAVE read SoSM already...don't think I've forgotten about the sequel ;) keep an eye on your email if you're watching Scourge of the Sailor Scouts! I always try to make up for keeping you guys waiting, and I owe you guys HUGE!

Thank you all so much for motivating me to keep writing - it's a lot of time I could spend playing videogames or watching Netflix instead, but what makes it worth it is hearing that I'm brightening other people's days too! It's a big weight coming off my shoulder, finishing Rini's story...so if you wanna tell me I suck, now's your time to do it without hurting my feelings TOO much :P but good, bad or ugly, I always love hearing your thoughts!


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